The original clocks were designed as public timepieces and were fitted on the top of a tower mainly to ensure that the bells were audible. These striking clocks only sounded an alarm, usually in the form of a gong every hour because the clock face had not been thought of until the seventeenth century. These clock towers were invented to do away with the requirement for a human to manually ring the bell as a public time signal.

It was not until these mechanical clocks were developed that their clock makers realized that the mechanism could be adapted to turn a dial, with hourly markings on the face, behind a fixed hand to indicate the passage of time or the hour of the day. This is opposed to the modern-day clock of a fixed dial with moving hands.

Where to construct a Clock tower?

When these clock towers were constructed it posed a problem of who would take the responsibility to wind them every day, as these first public timekeepers were mechanical devices and not the automated kind we know today. Therefore, the clocks were invariably fitted as part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall, but many clock towers were also are free-standing.

Clock tower mechanism

The mechanism that turns the hands of a clock inside the tower is known as a turret clock. It often marks the hour and sometimes quarters of an hour by sounding large bells or chimes, the clock may be designed to play simple musical phrases or tunes as well. Cock towers are mostly admired for their aesthetics they once served a very important purpose when clocks and watches were not all that common. Before the middle of the twentieth century, most people did not have watches clock towers were therefore placed near the centers of towns and were often the tallest structures in the town.

Best known clock towers

There are three clock towers that have gone down in the pages of history for various reasons. Out of these are the clock tower, which houses the Big Ben of the Palace of Westminster in London, the Rajabai Tower in Mumbai, and the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. The Clock Tower in Leicester, England, is a major landmark in the city, owing somewhat to the fact that it is the de rigueur meeting point in the city.

Majestic clock towers have become beautiful timeless signatures of many town squares, business parks, shopping areas, and college campuses. The imperial presence of a clock tower immediately creates a sense of place in virtually any public gathering area.

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