Exactly How to Suit Large Clock Hands Big clock hands are those that are longer than about seven inches (talking the minute hand, not the hr hand). The factor big clock hands are so designated is that lengths greater than that cutoff size consider too much for a basic electric motor to turn. In other words, the conventional torque is insufficient, needing the developer of the timepiece to purchase a high-torque motion instead. Big clock hands are in theory limitless in size, yet almost talking you will not see any longer than eighteen inches, indicating that the equivalent clock would go to least a yard in size. Also then, the likeliest application for such a wrist watch would certainly be something installed directly to the wall surface (using the wall as the dial, in a manner of speaking) without being confined in an instance.