Cheap clock repair, why??

[joeqsmith]

My wife was given a clock many years ago.  One of the trinkets from a previous job so had some sentimental value.  It stopped working today and noticed a bit of acid but no apparent damage.  Cleaned it up and replaced the battery but it wouldn't run.  Cheap plastic works that snaps together.  popped it apart and bits flew all over the desk. 

Acid had damaged a but of the PCB where the battery contact mates to it so I just tinned that.  The real problem was it had damaged the coil winding.  I thought I would remove a half turn, but that was a bust.  The wire is about the thickness of my whiskers.  Razor blade was used to scrape off some of the insulation, cleaned and tinned then added about an inch of new wire.  A bit of clear nail polish to secure it.   

Then the task of figuring out where all those bits fit.

[joeqsmith]

Finishing up.  This was a bit of an odd ball works and I wasn't able to find pictures of one.  Maybe these pictures will save someone the pain of repairing one of these cheap clocks.

[floobydust]

I also got a clock to repair, the 'sentimental value' kind of thing. I did research and found there are only a few standard clock mech's used. Mainly the mounting for the hands, shaft length.
Because the gears simply wear out, I ordered a few from Ali and it was much less hassle at maybe $3.
Newer clock mechs do not have a 1PPS tick tick tick solenoid but instead some kind of silent smooth movement, like a motor running, still 1.5V

edit: It's got a chime? That would make it harder to source.

[Runco990]

Normally I don't repair a $2 quartz movement, but I have one clock where they screwed up and produced an extremely accurate one.....  so when the battery (Duracell of course) exploded WHILE STILL RUNNING....  I had to save it.  This crap movement is accurate to a minute or two a year.  TOTAL screw-up!   I'm milking it for all it's got!   

[joeqsmith]

It has a beeper for an alarm.  The ones I am used to seeing have a single nut that holds them to the clocks face.  This one has has three screws that secure it to to the face.   It may have been custom as I wasn't able to find a match.