Spring Forward: How to Adjust Your Clock for Daylight Savings Time

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME IS HERE!

I think we speak for most US citizens when we say Daylight Savings time, especially the Spring Forward part, usually elicits a groan and begrudging adjustment of the household’s analog clocks. Whether you own mechanical clocks or quartz ones, you’ll have to take a second to get them properly set. 

BRIEF HISTORY OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

In this video, we’ll walk you through the process for both kinds of clocks. Before that though, allow me to give you a brief history of Daylight Savings time that you did not ask for. 

The idea first popped up in 1895 with an entomologist from New Zealand named George Hudson because he wanted more time to collect bugs. He pushed for the change all the way to 1898. Some years later in England, a fellow by the name of William Willet realized many citizens of London slept through valuable sunlight hours during the summer which brought him to the same conclusion that George Hudson had come to years earlier. Willam also liked golfing and hated cutting his games short when the sun went down, so he submitted the proposal in 1909. Despite these two men coming up with, and pushing for, Daylight Savings time, it was Canada who first enacted it. In May of 1908, Port Arthur and Fort William in Ontario began observing Daylight Savings time. The US didn’t adopt the practice until 1918.

And in case you were wondering, no it had nothing to do with farmers. Farmers, historically, have been among the most vocal parties against the practice. 

SPRING FORWARD: ADJUSTING YOUR MECHANICAL CLOCK

Now let’s get your clock sprung forward. The first thing you will want to do is determine if you have a mechanical or quartz movement. Do this by opening the back of the clock and seeing if there are exposed gears or simply a little plastic box and some batteries. For the mechanical movements, you will need to advance the minute hand slightly over 360 degrees and stop on the new hour. Keep the advance steady. Stopping and starting can make the chimes get further out of sync. It’s also important to make sure you are moving the minute hand, NOT the hour hand itself. If you move the hour hand, you will simply be making the whole clock out of sync.

SPRING FORWARD: ADJUSTING YOUR QUARTZ CLOCK

If you have a Quartz movement, the process is very similar. Advance the minute hand forward to the correct time, or use the small dial found on the back of the movement. Pretty simple. The only thing you need to be careful to avoid is moving the hands backward. Don’t do that. You will break your clock.

Now you have all the knowledge you need to make sure your clocks are correct for springing forward for Daylight Savings. We can’t help you with the lost hours of sleep though, so good luck - Spring is almost upon us!