Lesser known than the Richmond sign made famous by Paul Kelly, the Mentone Nylex clock was erected in 1967, six years after its better-known sibling.

But the Mentone clock is not just switched off - it is in danger of falling to pieces and the local historical society says it should be fixed.

It says  the Heritage Council of Victoria, the State's main decision-making body on cultural heritage issues, offered a grant in 2006 to fix it - but  the grant was never taken up.

"It's looking rather tired," said Mordialloc and District Historical Society member Dorothy Booth, who wants either heritage authorities or Bunnings - that now leases the land where the clock stands - to help fund the clock's restoration.

"I'm afraid it's just going to be allowed to degenerate to such a state people will say it's become a danger and needs to be removed - that shouldn't be allowed to happen."

Ms Booth said it was a pity nothing was done back in 2006 when money was offered to fix it.

A spokeswoman for Heritage Victoria could not confirm details of the $20,000 repair offer, because details of old offers were not easily accessible.

Local Kingston councillor Rosemary West said people had driven past the clock for decades.

"It's part of our local history," Cr West said. "People would like it fixed - it was part of the deal when the land was rezoned."

The clock had been broken for more than a decade, the historical society says.

"It has the same sort of emotional ties to this area as the one at Richmond," Ms Booth said.

After Nylex announced it would shut the factory in 2006, the property was sold to a developer who obtained planning permits to build on the site.

But Ms Booth said that, after that developer had gone under, the clock had been left to fall to pieces.

"The site is now leased to Bunnings, who are sitting on it - they say they don't own the land so they aren't responsible for the clock."

She said if no-one would put money in to fix it, Bunnings could offer to repair the clock. "This is something they could contribute to the local area - especially since they still sell merchandise with the Nylex name on it."

Ms Booth has also urged Bunnings to take away a sign that obscures views of the clock.

Bunnings' general manager of property Andrew Marks said the hardware giant was happy to work with the landowner and that of an adjoining property owner, H. Troon, on restoring the Nylex sign.