An apparatus for measuring a backlash in a specimen gear is provided. The apparatus includes a test gear mounted on a forward portion of a spindle, the test gear is configured to mesh with the specimen gear and form an electrical circuit upon contact with the specimen gear. An encoder is rotatably connected to the spindle and configured to output a rotation angle of the spindle. An interrupt unit is configured to detect an opening and closing of the electrical circuit and generate one or more interrupt signals based on the opening and the closing of the electrical circuit. A measuring unit is operatively coupled to the encoder and the interrupt unit, the measuring unit is configured to start measurement, and stop measurement of backlash based on the interrupt signal.