turn the clock back

turn the/(one's) clock(s) back

1. To adjust the time on one's clock(s) back by one hour to account for the end of daylight saving time. Don't forget to turn your clock back tonight. I hate having to turn the clocks back every autumn, it's such an antiquated custom.
2. To attempt to return to an earlier time or situation. I really don't know if she'll forgive you—you said some terrible things to her, and you can't just turn the clock back. I wish I could turn my clock back to when I was a kid and didn't have any responsibilities.
See also: back, turn
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

turn the clock back

 and turn back the clock 
1. Lit. to set a clock to an earlier time. I have to turn the clocks back each fall. Please turn back the clock.
2. Fig. to try to return to the past. You are not facing up to the future. You are trying to turn the clock back to a time when you were more comfortable. Let us turn back the clock and pretend we are living at the turn of the century—the time that our story takes place.
See also: back, clock, turn
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

turn the clock back

or

turn back the clock

COMMON If you would like to turn the clock back or to turn back the clock, you would like to return to an earlier period, usually because you would like the chance to change something that you did in the past. I'd like to turn the clock back and do things differently, but I can't. If I could turn back the clock, I might not have said that. Note: You can use the verb put instead of turn. No amount of money — not even millions like this — can put back the clock and change what happened.
See also: back, clock, turn
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

put/turn the ˈclock back

return to the past; return to old-fashioned ideas, customs, etc: Sometimes I wish I could turn the clock back to my days as a student. These new restrictions on medical research will undoubtedly put the clock back (by) 20 years.
See also: back, clock, put, turn
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

turn the clock back, to

To return to an earlier way of life; to restore past conditions. This metaphor dates from the nineteenth century and generally represents a vain attempt to return to a past era. “You can’t turn back the hands of the clock,” wrote Erle Stanley Gardner (The Case of the Turning Tide, 1941).
See also: clock, turn
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • break one's neck, to
  • come back and see us
  • arrive back
  • carry (one) back
  • carry back
  • be/go back to square one
  • back
  • back at (something or some place)
  • back to square one
  • back to the salt mines
References in periodicals archive
What IS stand for is simple, they want to destroy the western style of life and force all the world to follow their version of Islam; they also want to turn the clock back to the 11th century.
Comment disrespectful to the families involved
LEAVING the EU would turn the clock back on women's rights by "decades", hitting equal pay and protection against pregnancy discrimination, a new report has warned.
Brexit 'risks turning clock back on woman's rights'
We can't turn the clock back but nor must we turn our backs when a human tragedy is unfolding off the shores of Europe.
Britain must answer SOS; VOICE OF THE
Are we really going to be the ones to turn the clock back centuries?
Libraries are a lifeline; Letters
If you are reading this and are either ex Electrical Branch or you know somebody who is, help me to turn the clock back. Just think, a mess mate off your old ship might be looking for you!
REUNITED; Send your letters to: Reunited, The Chronicle, Groat Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1ED
Is this yet another example of UKIPPERs wanting to turn the clock back? G
CHRIS Gallagher [...]
HOW many readers would like to turn the clock back? Especially if is to when they were in the Royal Navy at HMS.
Calling old shipmates
HOW many of your readers would like to turn the clock back, especially if is to when they were in the Royal Navy and serving on the 'warship' Hitler tried to sink during the Second World War, HMS Collingwood at Fareham in Hampshire?
Association seeks recruits; Views of the North
Equally appalling is his government's apparent willingness to demonise the poor and vulnerable, and to turn the clock back to the age of the deserving and undeserving poor.
The deserving and undeserving poor; LETTERS
Scotland is far too important to turn the clock back 300 years.
Facts not fiction
LEON PRYCE will turn the clock back six years when he embarks on his new career in France after being handed the number three jersey by Catalan Dragons.
Pryce drops to three; rugby league
We want a Government with the guts to turn the clock back to the 1930s and 40s when the punishment fitted the crime.
Empty prisons; LETTERS
"We don't want to turn the clock back to the days when you had two cleaners doing the same job, but getting different pay.
Union fury at plans to cut workers' pay rights
A rise in protectionism could turn the clock back a long way."
On world trade
'If I could turn the clock back I would have been a striker, out there running around and giving goalkeepers a hard time.
Alexander would love to score goals