July 31, 2026

How to take a movement out of a Grandfather Clock - Clock maintenance tutorial

Whether you’re doing maintenance or full repairs to your grandfather clock, you will likely need to take the movement out beforehand. Problem is, there’s more than one method to removing the movement, depending on the clock you have. In this article, we’ll walk you through some of the most common methods so you’ll be prepared to maintenance your clock correctly.

Grandfather clock with dial removed so brass movement can be seen sitting on wooden mounting board.

No matter what kind of grandfather clock you have, you will need to remove the pendulum and weights before accessing the movement. This is pretty straightforward; just unhook the pendulum and weights, and set them aside. It’s best to use gloves for this process to avoid tarnishing the brass.

Emperor Clock employee carefully removing pendulum and weights from a grandfather clock.

The first variation here requires the movement to come out the front of the clock. Remove the hands by unscrewing the hand bushing and carefully sliding the hands off the post.

Close up of grandfather clock face with hands being removed for maintenance.

The dial will need to come off next. Sometimes the dial is screwed onto the cabinet, sometimes it is attached to the movement itself and sometimes it will be attached to both. Examine your clock carefully to determine which style you have. Remove the mounting board screws and take the movement out the front of the clock.

Emperor Clock employee taking a movement out of a grandfather clock from the front after dial has been removed.

A quick note: if you have a tubular clock, the mounting board needs to come out with the movement. Removing the movement from the mounting board can result in the hammer tension being messed up.

The second variation has the movement attached to the dial via dial pins with access through the back of the grandfather clock. As with the first variation, you will need to take off the hands.

Close up of dial pin on grandfather clock movement with red arrow pointing to the dial pin.

If you can easily reach and remove the dial pins while the movement is in the clock, you can avoid removing the seating board and dial. If you can’t easily reach the dial pins, you will need to remove the seating board. After that, the mounting screws will need to be removed to take the movement off the seating board.

Emperor Clock employee removing grandfather clock movement via the back of the clock.

The third variation has the movement coming out the front of the clock similarly to the first one. As with the other two, remove the hands first. Locate the four dial levers and move them away from the dial posts.

Close up of side by side dial lever images, one is latched and the other is unlatched.

The dial should come right out as long as it isn’t additionally screwed into the cabinet. Finally, remove the mounting screws and the movement will come free.

Emperor Clock employee removing a large brass grandfather clock movement after the clock dial has been fully taken off.

Keep in mind there are many styles and odd variations out there when it comes to grandfather clocks. This article is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully you are now better equipped to maintenance your clock. For help identifying your movement, check out this article.

Filed in: Clock Repair, Clock Tutorials, Clocks, Grandfather Clock, Mechanical Clocks

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