CHENNAI: In the fifties, when watches were a luxury few could afford, massive stand-alone clock towers were what many relied on. Now, these vintage structures lie in a state of utter neglect.
There are four clock towers in Chennai — at Royapettah, Demellows Road, Doveton and Mint. While three of these are functioning, the one on Mint Street is stuck at 5.20 since 2018. This despite a facelift in 2014. The clock tower in Doveton was dysfunctional for three years before the Corporation fixed it six months ago.
The 60-feet clock tower at Mint has a heavy pendulum, iron plates, a 4-feet diameter dial and a metal rope. “Once every 30 hours, a staff has to wind the clock using a spanner as key,” says a Corporation official.
Historians point out the importance of these structures. “Those days, when only a few people had HMT watches, the concept of time for a common man came from these clocks,” says historian V Sriram. “The clock on Mint Street was inaugurated in 1948 by the then Mayor U Krishna Rao.” The working mechanism of the clock, Sriram says, is called ‘master & slave’ arrangement. “The master gives key from the ground and the clock on top, considered the slave, obeys.”
Speaking to Express, a Corporation official said a proposal to fix the Mint clock had been finalised. “The clock will be repaired by the end of July at a cost of Rs 69,000.”