wind back the clock

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wind back the clock (third-person singular simple present winds back the clock, present participle winding back the clock, simple past and past participle wound back the clock)

1. (idiomatic, figurative) To return in time to an earlier period of history.
   • 2021 February 24, John Crosse, “North West Electrics”, in RAIL, number 925, page 62:

     But wind the clock back some 60 years, and you would find that away from the South East of England, the North West once had the most extensive and varied selection of electric routes in the country.

• wind the clock back

• (to return to an earlier time): turn back the clock, turn back time