Internals of Quartz Clock Mechanisms 

This is the only detailed explanation of the inner workings of these clocks I've seen. This is done superbly well! I have discarded so many clocks because the clock mechanism wasn't working. Now that I understand how it works, I can fix. My sister brought me an older clock that made the sound of a different bird every hour. It wasn't working and had belonged to my dad, so it was worth fixing. I took everything apart and found that the battery contact strips weren't making contact with the main board. I had to solder jumper wires to get power to the clock innards. After a lot of time and patience, I finally got it back together and it works! I would never have attempted this with the knowledge this video provides.

Thank you Robert, I have a little known tip! If you have a clock of this type that has been working for better than 15 years and is loosing about 5 min in a week, turn it over, 180 so the 6 is at the top, watch it for a week and if it keeps correct time you can rotate the mechanism in relation to the numbers and get another 15 or so years out of it. Gravity only wears the plastic on the bottom.

Thank you for a great description of how it all works. I found a beautiful wall clock in the dumpster where we live and brought it home. After cleaning it all up, I was able to get the motor working again by watching your video. I feel so smart now.

I thoroughly ENJOYED this video 7.5 years after it was published. Thank you for taking the time to do the research and doing the video.

Hi Robert, I do not care whether it is a soleniod or armature. The fact that your video saved me some cash is what I am gratefull to you for the clear instructions

A very well described video that took us into the inner secrets of a regularly used item that we may never have known about. Thank you for a great lesson.

This video was made 9 years ago... but oh my THANK YOU DEAR FELLOW, thank you SO MUCH, I watched so many tutorials but you happened to be the only one who saved me and teached me to repair such t68 mechsnism! And to repair it I had to watch WHOLE video, trying to assemble it wrong way all along ahaha... but finally! It's an amazing feeling! I was really in a despair but - finally! It's a miracle! Thank you and bless you!

My 5 year old son has watched this video about 200 times! He loves clock mechinisms :)

Thank you! My entire clock fell apart when I was trying to "redecorate" the face! I had to watch your video several times but it's back together and it's working!!!

After searching for a video to explain how clocks work for an hour, I found this video, and now I know what I wanted to know. I think I'll stop looking for more videos on how clocks work now. This had such a great explanation, thank you so much.

Thanks for the great video. I took a thrift store clock apart to paint it and change out the faceplate and the internal gears fell apart. Your video helped me figure out how to put it all back together again. Thanks!

Finally, an explanation I can get behind. As much as clockmakers and watchmakers hate quarts movents, it's hard not to acknowledge how elegant these simple mechanisms really are. I especially love that these things can run continuously for twenty years or more without any maintenance, and longer if it is, and still keep relatively accurate time for less than a few dollars.

Thanks for making this video! Although my clock wasn't the same model it was close enough to yours that I figured out how to repair my bathroom clock! I figured I had one gear out of whack, but when I got the backing plate off they all bounced out. After I saw how yours looked inside and you explained the solenoid and that first gear, the reassembly went fairly smoothly (except for when I put the backing plate back on - it took a couple of tries to get that plate on without that second gear bouncing out of place). Now I'm all set! (bad pun intended)!

I'd broken my waking clock and thanks to this video I repaired it and learned how it works on the way.

thank you for your great video. I bought a make your own clock kit and found the "works" were not in tact. With your help, I put it back together and it works very well. Again, thank you very much!

Hahaha wonderful video! Yes most of us know how those gears work, but actually seeing that little gear with the magnet turning them is amazing. I am a 50ish aerospace engineer, and is still using my Quartz alarm clock to wake me up every morning that I bought from Gemco (remember this store?) when I was in 9th grade with my own money :) Awesome our wonderful big little world! And yes, that black case looked very familiar, the manufactures probably have made millions of them. I just can't stop laughing when you said "$3 from Kmart....but be very, very careful" LOL! Take care all!

Awesome! So cool to see the genius of normal everday mechanisms that we take for granted. Old clock works now! Mahalo nui (much appreciation) from Hawaiʻi!

THANKS!! I'VE BEEN TWO HOURS TRYING TO RE ARM A QUARTZ CLOCK, THIS WAS THE UNIQUE VIDEO I FOUND

Awesome! Quite informative! Covers all the basic! Now I have the courage to fix my wall clock.

Awesome video, our clock fell off the wall and the mechanism shattered into every single component on the floor. I didn't think I had a hope of assembling it all back together but it's now back on the wall and working thanks to you!

I would like to add a little detail about how the motor works. Each pulse to the coil results in both the pole pieces at the bottom being of the same polarity while the two pole pieces at the top are of the opposite magnetic polarity. The large electromagnetic poles are 180 degrees apart and the small poles are also 180 apart and 90 degrees from the similarly polarized large poles. The pulses repel the permanent magnet on the gear such that the permanent magnet is always pushed away from the similarly polarized small pole and toward the oppositely polarized small pole at the other end of the U shaped core. After the pulse, the pole pieces are no longer electromagnetically magnetized but the permenent magnet on the gear will latch itself into place aligned with the larger poles of the electromagnet due to their larger size and greater attraction. They are then ready for the next pulse of opposite polarity. This all ensures the motor always turns in the same direction with alternating pulses. It is essentially a permanent magnet AC motor.

Dear Mr.Robert,Thank you very much for posting this video. I was able to fix a opened mechanism and get a clock going. After opening, I could not figure out how to fix one of the gears, this helped me a lot. Thank you once again. Ram mohan G Bangalore India

Pro video, light, sound, content. High class! Interesting and in depth, clear and very nice. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and thank you for the time you took to produce and upload this video.

I was questioning whether one pulse of the electromagnet caused a full rotation of the gear or a half a rotation. Your video answered that question for me very clearly. I was thinking in the very first part of the video "Put a mark on that gear to see how much it's rotating" and you did. So it takes a second reverse pulse of power to the coil to complete the revolution. Thank you!

Don’t worry about any “minor delays” as I find the more you take your time, the more relaxing it is to watch :)

Fixed my mom's old clock. Thanks! Great video.

A heartfelt thank you, for your detailed how to, I had one of these mechanisms get acid in it and after that it stopped working, I decided to take a chance and open it and give it a clean, after I opened it the whole thing fell into pieces on my desk. I was mystified as to how to put it back together. I managed to reassemble it, with the help of your video after cleaning the contacts. Again thank you very much for your explanation and the how to. Regards.

fantastic video.....chilled out, a really good walk through on how these work. Simple as......but omg how clever are the people who invent and MAKE these things!!

I very much enjoyed this video. My wall clock stopped working. Thanks to your excellant video I was able to fix it. A tiny bit of dirt or something jammed the gears !

Excellent! Very interesting. Thank you for your time and making this video. I always wonder how things work and take things apart just out of curiosity but a lot of times don’t understand the full explanation in how it works.

Thank you for the nice demo. Pozrovienia from Poland.

I felt like a curious kid once again!!! Thank you Robert!

You learn something new every day. Thank you for sharing.

Man thank you so much. My mom’s analog clock fell apart when changing the battery and I got everything else but couldn’t figure out those 2 bottom pieces. This was extremely helpful!

Thank you so much for this!! I have to build an elastic powered clock and this tutorial helped me greatly!

Thank you for the nice demo. I tried to do the same easily after seeing this.

Very clear and in-depth. Thank you so much for explaining.

Good! These things are cheap, but I'd rather spend an interesting while trying to fix one than go and buy a new one. This video helped me a lot. Thanks!

Brilliant!!! Fixed one of my clocks and working on another. Thank you so much❤️👏

good work man, clear and precise explanation. thank you

thanks for the video, it helps me to fix my Quartz wall clock by cleaning some debris between the gears.

Thorough and well done. I actually think I could, based on this video, fix my quartz clock.

Great Tutorial!!! got a 20+ year old mechanism to run smoothly again.

Really interesting. I've been taking these things apart to quieten them down but not been stripping them down to this extent. This was a brilliant explanation of what the various components inside do. (So I guess a dual 12/24 hour movement just has an extra layer, or an extra pair of cogs?) I want to make a 24 hour clock that runs backwards (...because that's the way I visualise time for some reason.) I can buy a 24 hour movement or I can buy a reverse movement, but not a 24 hour reverse movement, so I'm going to buy a 24 hour clock and try to reverse the movement, but I'm planning to practice reversing some cheap 12 hour movements first.

thanks. keep pulling apart the parts of everyday household items and share the videos

Thank you! Thanks to your vidéo I was able to repare my clock; there's was a little piece of plastic which blocked the magnet...

You are a great teacher. it was so siple and systematic.

I have just managed to repair a clock that I got for Christmas which got stuffed in a box when we moved house - I think the second hand pin got pushed through too far. I was looking into buying a new mechanism but then I would have to have different hands for it, but this video has saved my mechanism - thank you!

Thank you very much for your demonstration and explanation! The video is really helpful for it gives ideas about the function of small electronic circuit board in which quartz crystal resonator in a form of small tuning fork is connected and how the circuit board receives power from battery and causes the tuning fork to vibrate and then how the circuit converts the vibration into one second electric pulse and drives the peizo electric motor and drives the motion work of the clock (12 : 1 reduction gear train that drives the clock hands). So that people will no more get tempted to throw the old unfunctioning clocks into garbage or by the side of road but they get idea to repair and use the clock again.

Great Video I love seeing how things work! And now I learned to check my NEW battery if all else fails!!!

Using your video I was able to fix an HR 1688 clock mechanism. Thank you!

Very good explanation of the Quartz Mechanism - thanks.

Amazing video! It helped me with some issues inside the mechanisms. Thanks!

Thanks so much for the explanation. I even enjoyed the delays.

I want to do some fooling around with these mechanisms - thanks for explaining how they're supposed to work so now I can go break them!

I really enjoyed watching this. I'm working on a special clock design using a microcontroller and wanted to see how these mechanisms work. Well done!!! thank you!

Best explained video for large wall clocks.

Thanks for this. I was wondering if you have any knowledge or information on two allied quartz movement types? 1) The modified for torsion pendulum (cosmetic display only) 2) The radio controlled atomic clock movements Rgds

Very well explained and easy to understand Thank you so much.

great explanation. Thanks! Can you also explain mechanics of alarm function in such clocks?

Very cool... You Sir Are An Amazing Person... The Detail In This Video Is So In Depth And Very Easy To Follow.. Thank You For Taking The Time To Explain How The Clock Mechanism Works !!! 🙋👍💯

It's been a wile - fascinating ! thank you

Excellent video sir. Extremely informative.

Wonderful description! Awesome videos well done!

Thank you very much for this but I have a question, I have a quartz carage clock with a HECHINGER movement, how does this work ????????????

Great video you help me fix the clock the proper way thanks.

I just fixed 3 of these this week. IN EVERY CASE the problem was the pressure contacts between the battery connectors & the electronics board. All I needed to do was gently scrape the contacts (2 spring from the battery, 2 flat on the PCB) with a plastic blade to remove the oxidization (will now look evenly bright), and BINGO! The clock ticks & runs fine again. Just be careful how you disassemble & re-assemble the gear mech. About 15 minutes work & no parts cost, & you keep the original hands & sound of your clock!

Brilliant. Just brilliant my brother. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

I'm amazed at how simple the mechanism is. You've given me confidence to have a look inside my faulty travel clock. Then next week, maybe I'll flip the back off my Rolex Oyster. (Kidding! 😜)

Thanks for this precise piece of information. Nicely explained !

Wow its been 11 years! Nice video

Great, hope to get hints how to fix up my old Japanese Alarm clock.

Hi, thanks for the video! I'm looking for some direction to slowing the speed by half to give me a 24h clock. Is this possible to do with a regular quartz wall clock?

Thank! I just take my class clock to fix. I don't know how first. And I see your video and know how to fix.Even know how is it move. I think you can be a teacher when your youtube is freeze!

Oh! this was so brilliantly explained. Thanks Robert. I would like to convert the movement to 24 hr format so just replaced the 32,xxxMHz crystal with a 16,384MHz one. added 2x22pf caps from each crystal leg to -ve but could not get oscillation. Could you give us some clues? I notice this question has been asked several times Thanks

INTERESTING! Specially the set gear part

Robert, you're aswesom! Thank you so much for not only breaking it down but explaining as you go along. I taught myself - reluctantly - only because I'm a (reluctant) clock collector. LOL! It's crazy, but fun. Now, I only collect clocks that chime, which is a bit of a challenge but satisfying when I'm able to tear one apart and fix it or use parts from one and fix another. But it's the chime mechanism that's a little complex, or a lot complex in some cases. Do you have a video on quartz chime repair? Thank you, i thoroughly enjoyed your taking apart the plastic gears, that of which i hate to do. I watched a recent video of this and the guy said to take a photo of how the gears are positioned before you disasdidamble it. It's tricky because everything is so intricate in there plus my fingers are fat!

¡Maravilloso! Me has ayudado un montón en el montaje de mi maquinaria, sin ser relojero, gracias my friend

Thanks for being so good at explaining this. I havent taken my clock apart yet but I'm trying to figure out why I put in a new battery and the clock slows down and displays an inaccurate time. Before I disassemble it, any ideas why this would happen? Could my solenoid be broken?

Very informative - thank you!

Managed to fix my clock by watching this video. Thanks.

Thank you I did just that.Bought a cheep clock and took it apart and put it together.works

thanks for posting; I should have seen your lesson 1 year before. Took to garbage one mechanism... didn't know how to assembly back.

thank you so much! you just help me fixed my watch. God bless!

Thanks so much Robert ..very useful and nice presentation.

Time when RU-vid videos where straight and simple on point

Thank you, very good explanation. Enjoyed watching your video also learnt a lot

How we take things for granted everyday...amazing!

Nice video, thanks Robert!

this was really helpful, thanks!

Yes, I watched this pretty avidly and, although not my favourite type of movement, I understand these movements better. One thing I noticed on a couple of gears were the 3 segmental cut-outs (curved bits) and you didn't explain the significance of those. Also I noticed 2 metal prongs from the battery area, which I assume make contact with the magnet? Not sure at all about that bit either. The circuit board I reckon should have been gone into, but not too much, as I appreciate this is highly specialised and would take the layman far too strongly into the realms of electronics. So, overall, congratulations and many thanks for this fascinating insight.

Very informative. I was wondering if those solenoids have the same universal size. I was searching the web for my old Bulova wall clock but none of the shaft measurement match. Maybe I could buy any one of the movement and replace the solenoids only. Besides I can keep all the pointer hands original. Thanks again.

Great video, I used your info to put my cheap IKEA clock back together.

Thanks, great video...you helped me a lot :)

awesome,informative video! i DO have a quartz clock that has a problem!i called someone who fixes clocks and he told me that he would just replace the box, so i decided to look for a video that actually SHOWED ME how to fix it myself!!!!!lolol great video. thanks so much. !!! who wouldn't want to have a wife that not only was a carpenter, but fixes computers and now can fix a quartz clock??????

Very cool ! Well explained. Thanks

First off, let me say this is a perfect video. Easy to follow and incredibly helpful. My only question is: what is that gear called that is between the hour and minute hand that moves when you are turning the dial to set the clock? I need to replace that.

Thank you Robert, I managed to repair my workshop clock! 🧐

Thanks for the video....helped me fix my clock

This was awesome. What would happen if the minute gear was fixed. Would the gear for the seconds hand just break if you tried to adjust the time?