The master of time crimes, Temple Fugate, The Clock King, arranges for one of his trick timepieces to be sold to the Harry Hummert Jewelry Shop, which caters to Gotham City's elite. Concealed inside the clock is a small TV camera which allows Clock King to observe everyone in the shop. Alerting his moll, Millie Second, and his group of Second Hands, he activates the tricky mechanism in the clock, which gasses all of the patrons asleep. CK and his minute minions see this as a golden opportunity to strip the shop clean of its valuables. Batman and Robin are alerted to the robbery by Commissioner Gordon and rush to Hummert's shop, where they discover that the clock was bought at The Parkhurst Gallery. They quickly leave the shop and speed for the gallery, where they discover that the clock was put up for auction by a Mr. Kronos. The Dynamic Duo deduce that it was Temple Fugate incognito, and they make their next stop Dunbar's Drive-in (whose special of the day is Batburgers!) in search for one of Fugate's former molls, Thelma Thymepiece. Meanwhile, back at The Parkhurst Gallery, Clock King disguises himself as pop art expert Progress Pigment, and attempts to snatch a rare time-related painting under the very noses of the TV audience (the local TV news was doing a live report from the Parkhurst at the time of CK's arrival). After making a short speech to the crowd Temple "Progress Pigment" Fugate unveils his latest sculpture, called Time Out Of Joint, which resembles the inside of a clock and when turned on emits a potpourri of assembled sounds and noises as the mechanical parts move about. Nobody suspects that the mechanical marvel is actually being used as a decoy to cover up the sound of a saber saw attatched to its rear, which cuts through the wall into the storage room filled with valuable paintings.

After the saw does its diabolical duty, "Progress Pigment" clicks another switch on the sculpture, this one emitting a high-pitched noise so piercing that it knocks everyone out except for him and his Second Hands, 3 and 5, who were protected by earmuffs. Clock King enters the storage room and swipes the clock masterpiece therein. Batman and Robin, who, at Dunbar's Drive-in, have been enjoying their Batburgers and watching The Clock King on The Batscope in The Batmobile, rush for the place and confront CK and his Second Hands as they depart with the painting. They proceed to thrash Second Hands 3 and 5 but are stopped by Clock King, who fakes a sprained wrist sustained from clutching the heavy painting and releases a barrage of giant springs in their direction from yet another hidden compartment in his Time Out Of Joint. The time The Dynamic Duo make in trying to pry themselves free of the giant coils gives The Clock King and The Second Hands room to split. The Caped Crusader and The Boy Wonder analyze the dust inside a wristwatch dropped by Clock King at the gallery, and use it to trace him and his gang to their hideout at the deserted premises of Tick Tock Synthetic Rubies, Inc. Unaware that CK deliberately left behind the watch, The Duo fall into an untimely trap! The Clock King remove their utility belts and encase them in the lower chamber of a gigantic hourglass and leave them to be buried under sand which slowly fills it up and threatens to smother them to death!