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