Craftsmen from the city were hired to repair the Ripon Buildings clock tower following a cyclone.
| Photo Credit: M. SRINATH
As Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) workers climbed the clock tower atop Ripon Buildings on Monday, the clock, which was manufactured in 1913, continued ticking, keeping proper time. But the bells did not ring. All five bells had fallen silent due to a snapped metal rope.
“The iron rope snapped, possibly owing to corrosion caused by proximity to the sea. But all the five bells are in good shape,” says S. Imran Khan, a worker who maintains the clock. Pointing to the technology adopted in 1913 by the clockmakers in England, he says the younger generation has many things to learn from heritage structures such as the Ripon Buildings’ clock tower.
The GCC had repaired the damage the clock tower sustained during a cyclone by employing local technicians and decided against sourcing the original spares from England. “We have lost all records about the technical details of the clock. But we have ensured that the clock keeps ticking with local clock-makers’ support,” says Assistant Engineer Surya Murthy of the GCC.
The civic body had not preserved the archival documents with technical details about the Ripon Buildings clock. However, the manufacturer’s name embossed on the bell reads: “Cast by Gillett and Johnston, Croydon, 1913.” Even though a successor company of the original clockmaker continues operating in England, the GCC has used the services of local technicians, prioritising on saving costs, in pursuit of the restoration of the heritage structure.
“The Ripon Buildings clock is said to have similarities with the Big Ben in the Palace of Westminster in London. The renovation of the Big Ben was taken up three years ago,” says Syed Nazir, a mechanic who maintains the clock. Even as hundreds of specialists from the United Kingdom contributed to the recent conservation project of the Big Ben using traditional trades, the condition in Chennai is different, with fewer clockmakers in the trade.
Mr. Nazir claims to have used local materials to refurbish the clock a few years ago. The GCC, as part of the cost cutting measures, did not seek help from the specialist craftspeople who successfully participated in the Big Ben conservation project in London, to protect the powerful symbol of democracy. “We pay ₹15,000 every month for the worker who maintains the clock,” says a GCC engineer.
During the inauguration of Ripon Buildings, which is the symbol of Local Administration in India, The Hindu carried a news piece on November 28, 1913, which read: “His Excellency Lord Hardinge performed another interesting ceremony of the opening of the Ripon Buildings this morning at 8 o’clock before a very large gathering of ladies and gentlemen. There are three storeys surmounted by a clock tower, the highest point of which is about 132 feet above ground level. The tower will contain a clock with four dials, each eight feet in diameter and will have Westminster Chimes.”
After the workers checked the rope that had snapped on Monday, GCC officials said they were determined to restore the clock in a few days, utilising local craftsmen and materials this time as well.
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