I have an older Westclox Dialite electric alarm clock and the second and hour hand work just fine but the minute hand won’t move. I can wind it and adjust it manually but it doesn’t do a thing when it is plugged in. I know very little about clocks but I’m hoping someone out there has an easy enough fix for this problem! The clock is easy to take apart and I can see the gears but of course after that I’m kind of without a guide on what to do. Thank you in advance for any help!
Good evening, Rae! Welcome to the Message Board! A few questions that might help us help you: If you plug the clock in and leave it running for an hour or two, does the hour hand move? On most clocks, the hour hand is actually "driven" through gears working with the minute hand. If the hour hand moves, but the minute does not, that would be one thing. If neither hand moves, that would be something very different. If you set the alarm, does it go off normally? You say it's easy to get the clock apart. Can you disassemble it to the point you are able and supply us with some additional pictures? Of course, exercise care with disassembly. You should unplug the clock first. Can you take the clear plastic cover or lens off the front of the clock? We might need to ask you to remove the hands and then the dial itself so we can see what's happening underneath. Best regards! Tim Orr
Thank you for the responses! I have some more pictures for you. And yes the hour hand does move and keep correct time. I left it on all last night just to confirm that and sure enough this morning the hour was correct but the minute hand was still suck in the same place.
Hi, It looks like the minute hand is broken off the leftovers are the white plastic piece between the hour and seconds hand. The brass hand closest to the dial would be for the alarm.
Good evening, Rae! I'm inclined to agree with D.th.munroe. It looks like the minute hand is broken off, and all that remains is a disk of plastic between the second hand and the hour hand. Funny that the missing parts don't appear to be in the case somewhere. I've marked the hands with labels. To verify, you could put a tiny dot of ink on the edge of that little disk, plug the clock in and see if the dot revolves once per hour. No need to reassemble. If the hand is broken off, you'd need a replacement, which could be very hard to find. Might be possible to make something new from thin plastic. You'd want to remove the second hand (my guess is that there is either a nut holding it on or that it will pull straight off – can't quite tell from photo). Then, you could remove that little disk and use it as a guide for making a new minute hand. Best regards! Tim
Wow you guys are amazing! I honestly don’t know if I ever would have been able to figure that out on my own! Thank you both I will work on a solution to fix it. All the best, Rae
