So I have a pretty basic atomic clock with an analog face, and it's worked just fine for a few years, but just recently it's started displaying the wrong time. I assumed this was because the batteries were dying, so I changed them, only the problem didn't go away. All the settings are correct for the time zone and DST and all that, although the thing is, it's not off by an even hour or anything - it's just completely wrong. For example, at 2:12, it's displaying a time of 5:30. The thing is, there's a tiny digital clock on the back of it that runs off of one of those coin batteries for when you change the main batteries, and it displays the correct time. Do I need a new clock, or is there something I can adjust/fix?
Look for the manual online. Chances are, there's a .pdf of it out there. You want to look for the part about resetting the hands to the proper "zero" position. The movement is most likely correct, the hands were just in the wrong starting position.
It's a consistent 3 hours, 18 minutes ahead. I located one and it indicates that I should have set my hands back to 12:00 before putting the batteries in, as well as having the switch set to the manual "set" position. I'm going to try this out now just to see if it works or not. Edit: Looks like that did the trick.
And it's not an atomic clock. It's a radio controlled clock that receives its time signal from the NIST in CO. Yes, they have an atomic clock. The shortwave signal your clock receives likes nighttime and winter so some areas may not receive during the summer or only at night. Replacing the batteries increases the clock's gain (ability to amplify the signal making it useful). RTFM helps.
