Ford's Crap Cartier Clocks: How they work, and how to fix them when (not if) they break

[Author's note: the following is reprinted from the original post I made on TheLincolnForum.net to decipher these things once and for all. Problems with these clocks are incredibly common, and my OCD nature forced me to get to the bottom of it]

Here is all the info I can summarize and share from my experience trying (and succeeding) with fixing these blasted things. It's a bit lengthy. And I'm not really a clockmaker so if I have the terms wrong, please correct me! With that said, here we go (captions / explanation under pics). For reference, the version of Cartier under discussion is from a 1975 Mark IV although I am sure this movement was used in other Lincolns and probably regular Fords as well - there is NOTHING fancy about it!

Removing the instrument cluster form the dash is the hard part... refer to your favorite manual for those instructions ;). Once the cluster is out of the dash, remove the clock from the cluster. Remove the adjusting knob and hands, then unscrew the aluminum & plastic dial faces, and you’re left with the basic clock assembly as seen here. In this picture, the rear cover has been removed – it was secured by tabs that were passed through the three small slots you can see. I also installed the second hand for reference. The three round press-lock washers (?) and rubber pads, are what secures the movement to this plate. The gear visible in the hole just to the left of 6-o’clock is what adjusts the accuracy of the movement, but it is self-adjusting so I’m not sure why an access hole was left here.

Inside the casing. The raised brass gear at 6-o'clock is sprung to the adjustment knob and shaft; when you pull out the shaft to adjust the time, the gear engages both gear trains. The “white” gear train to its left sets the time. The “black” gear train to its right adjusts the works tension and is supposed to hone in on proper accuracy. When the manuals said that “with continuous adjustment as necessary, over time, the clock will eventually achieve perfect accuracy”, this is what they meant.

Also prominent in the photo is the winding solenoid. This one is in good shape! The threaded terminal post is exposed and connects to the instrument cluster printed circuit when installed. The ring surrounding it, is sprung to contact the back cover which has the other post (you can see the cover on the workbench in the background). Note how the ring is connected to the works frame, which is insulated with those rubber pads. In this way, the entire works becomes part of the solenoid circuit!

If these two pieces fall out of your clock, then you have your work cut out for you. This is the camdog and spring which operates the hands on the clock. The bad news is that when this breaks, the solenoid gets fried too... And they most assuredly will break at some point, as we will discuss later.

Here’s what a fried solenoid looks like. Of three defective clocks I had, two had fried solenoids (and broken camdogs). I’ve yet to successfully resurrect a solenoid: they seem to fry bigtime.

Here’s a slightly blurry (sorry) sideview of the works. See the large grey “block” in the center? That’s the winding cam. The dog is still attached to it.

This picture is better. You can again see the gray winding cam; it spins freely but shares its axle with the red cog next to it. That red cog is connected to the large brass gear to its left. To the immediate right of the cam you can see the two solenoid posts which are currently touching each other. One of those terminal posts is connected to the cam. Also note the white camdog again, with the small spring installed underneath it (inside the pocket on the cam).

Basically the clock works like this: If you connect power to the clock as pictured above, the solenoid engages since the terminals have touched and shorted out. When the solenoid engages, it does so with enough violent force to fling back the terminal post connected to the cam IN A MICROSECOND! The terminal post flings back about an inch. Since the post is connected to the cam, the cam spins backwards this far as well, dragging the camdog with it. The cam is now placed under tension thanks to a coil spring (not yet shown)… this coil spring wants to drag the cam back to the position seen in the picture. But the camdog engages with the teeth on the red cog, so as the coil spring pulls it back, the red cog turns as well… turning the brass gear… which turns the rest of the works and thus the hands begins to move and the clock is keeping time.

A little over a minute later, the spring has pulled the cam back to engage the solenoid once more, and thus the process repeats ad infinum.

In the center of this picture, you can see the lower anchor point for the coil spring. This anchor is at roughly the 6-o’clock position. The other end (as connected to the cam) winds from 9-o’clock when energized, clockwise to 12-o’clock at the terminal posts.

It seems appropriate to point out here, to lay any misconceptions firmly to rest: This is absolutely NOT a "jeweled" or quartz movement!

Here are a couple comparison shots of the cam at its closed, then “fully energized” (reset by solenoid) position. In the second picture, you can see the other end of the coil spring attached to the cam.

If you need to oil the pivot bearings on the gears, you need to remove the entire works as shown. In this picture you can see the coil spring on the paper towel. (Remember how two of my clocks had busted camdogs and solenoids? Well on the third, an anchor loop on the coil spring broke – sparing the clock from a worse fate as we will soon see. I was able to fix that clock since its solenoid was good).

You can see also the “accuracy gear” in this picture (6-o’clock position). When this gear is turned, it moves the bronze lever which in turn adjusts another cam with a spiral spring. No, I don’t know what the proper terms are here. But that spiral spring is what sets the drag on the clockworks, which in turns adjusts its speed – and thereby its accuracy.

OK, so how does the camdog break? Look very carefully at the cam and you will see a small, lighter-colored spot: This is where a post used to be cast on as part of the cam! The camdog rested and pivoted on this post, and was sprung against the red cog (you can see the spring in the cavity just beneath the cam).

The cam is a cheap zinc casting, but the solenoid flings it back violently over 1400 times a day! And ALL of the tension and operational drag of the clock is focused on that tiny little pin… so it’s no wonder that it eventually breaks!

So what happens when the pin breaks?

Well remember the cam itself is essentially sprung loaded. When the pin breaks, the dog falls off and now there is nothing left to hold the tension. So it springs back, shorts the solenoid which flings it away, only to spring back immediately to be sprung away again… to spring back, to be sprung… essentially it starts oscillating. But this oscillation occurs so quickly (microseconds) that it keeps a virtual constant current through the solenoid. Which is bad…

… because this happens...

… and even though I have removed the coils, unwound some wire, and soldered the new leads to the post, I cannot get these solenoids to work again. Maybe someone else can help with that. Which would be great, because you CAN fix the cam dog! Using a dremel tool and a 1/64 bit, simply drill a small hole in the cam where the pin used to be. Then, cut some stock off the back of the drill bit, and glue it in the hole using gap-filling Cyanoacrylate Adhesive. Trim any execss material with a Dremel cutting wheel, then reinstall the camdog and spring. It works - I’ve done it, and this is how the clock in my own car was made functional again. I would have 3 clocks that work if I knew what to do about the solenoids.

The bottom line on these clocks, is that they are CRAP! It’s not a matter of if they will fail, but when. Of course, even my own camdog repair might not last forever (in fact I wouldn’t expect it to).

NowI know what you're thinking. But before you say “GoingInCirclez, you’re an Idiot… why did you waste your time and mine when you could have just slapped a quartz movement in there…” consider this:

This “Cartier” is not a quartz movement. But it's not a sweep-movement either. In fact, if you recall the “60 Minutes” TV show credits and that rapid visual tickticktickticktick… that is exactly what you see on these clocks. The second hand actually moves about 180-200 times a minute. It’s definitely unique, with its own character. So it’s worth preserving if you can.

So… whether your clock is working original, replaced with NOS, or fixed using the info I provided above: if you have a working clock and your car is not a daily driver, it’s probably worth disconnecting the battery on your car if you don’t drive it much. Just reset the clock for shows and the like. Remember it’s not IF but WHEN.

But, if someone can figure out my solenoid issue… you can fix these yourself for a few bucks in a couple hours, instead of paying out the nose for NOS or taking chances on “untested” junkyard pulls…