OSTRAVA PERFORMED A MAJOR OVERHAUL OF THE NEW TOWN HALL TOWER CLOCK HANDS
The New Town Hall stands as the largest town hall complex in the Czech Republic, boasting the country's tallest town hall tower at 85.6 meters, which was constructed between 1929 and 1930 and opened to the public in 1930 (with the tower following in 1933).
Martin Bachan and Mayor Jan Dohnal with the restored clock hands of the New Town Hall tower. Photo: Lukáš Kaboň
The tower clock itself weights 0.5 tons, and the original one was supplied by the Prague-based company Jednotný čas. Over decades of operation, the tower clock required careful maintenance. A unique overhaul of the clock hands took place after nearly half a century. Highly specialized work was carried out by experts from the renowned bell-foundry and clockmaking company Impuls-B, based in Ostrava's Stará Bělá district.
The expert’s intervention was primarily necessitated by worn-out holders for the historical neon devices, which enables the illumination of the hands in the dark or under reduced visibility. Along with the overhaul of the clock hands, the specialists also handled related tasks, as described by Martin Bachan, managing director of Impuls-B: "The hands had to be dismantled and undergo the necessary repairs, including removing the old coating and applying a new one. Subsequently, the hands were fitted with new neon holders. They were then returned to the tower and equipped with new neons. On this occasion, we also conducted a thorough inspection of the clock mechanisms behind the hands."
The tower originally housed a mechanical clock mechanism with a pendulum, featuring a self-electric winding system and wiring routed around the tower - due to the elevator, it could not run through the center. The mechanism had understandably served its time, so it was replaced by a fully electronic one, although the town hall clock appeared traditional from the outside. However, issues with accurate timekeeping arose over time, leading to each of the four clock dials being equipped with its own mechanism in 2005, achieving high precision in time display.
"At the start of the renovation of part of the clock, we first installed a pair of roughly two-meter clock hands on the rear dial facing the Ostravice River and adjusted them to the correct position. Given that the large hand weighed 28 kilograms and the small one 4 kilograms less, we had to proceed with great caution. I would also like to note that such an operation had not occurred here for more than 50 years, so we did not know how much time the entire revitalization would require. We worked at height, directly in the windows, adhering to the relevant safety measures considering the nature and requirements of the work. The hands were secured from the tower gallery during operations with ropes. Once we got them out, the technicians mounted the hand on the designated hubs and threaded the wires for the neons. The same process then followed for the other three dials. Caution was essential here, although we had extensive experience from various towers and churches; similarly large clocks, moreover with neons, existed in the Czech Republic only on the tower of the main railway station in Hradec Králové," recounted Martin Bachan.
The company that handled the recent hand overhaul had been caring for the New Town Hall's tower clock for approximately three decades. It most frequently performed inspections, adjustments and maintenance, occasionally replacing individual neons that could crack due to weather conditions. The company Impuls-B from Ostrava-Stará Bělá was established in 1998. Its portfolio primarily included adjusting tower clocks and "reviving" stuck bells (i.e., putting them into operation). Over its existence, it worked on approximately 1,600 tower clocks and 8,000 bells, not only in the Czech Republic but also abroad. It collaborated, for example, with a French company responsible for the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral or an Italian bell-foundry whose roots dated back to the early 15th century. It also developed its own devices with melodies for school bell-ringing.
Ostrava archivist Jozef Šerka provided historical context on the tower clock: "In the original competition announced by the city council in 1930, the Brno-based company Jan Antel won. However, its owner unexpectedly died, so a new competition had to be held, in which the Prague-based company Jednotný čas from Karlín succeeded with an offer for electric clocks." Two striking bells from the Brno-based company Manoušek were acquired for these clocks.
From research in period press (1931), it emerged that after commissioning, there was a problem at night with the visibility of the dial, leading to adjustments in the clock's lighting. From another found article, it could be inferred that the original electric clocks began having issues with operation and accuracy after forty years, so they had to be replaced with new clocks in 1976. These were no longer electric but mechanical, with weights. At the same time, the hands, which were already corroded, were also replaced. On this occasion, mention was made of only one bell. Another article from 1985 testified that the clocks did not function well even after the mentioned overhaul. Evidently, these mechanical clocks were also replaced again with electronic ones, whose renewal was now underway.
The exceptional replacement of the clock hands also caught the attention of Ostrava's mayor Jan Dohnal: "Even those who move through the spaces of the New Town Hall almost daily might not have thought about the mechanism of those large clocks, to which we so often raised our heads to check the time. The current work carried out on the tower hands could have been a good opportunity to pause a bit and appreciate the monumentality and uniqueness of the New Town Hall, including its tower and what belonged to it. One could only tip one's hat to our ancestors and acknowledge their skill. After all, the clocks had been in operation for a considerable number of years, and I believed that with the current quality maintenance, they would last for Ostrava for a very, very long time. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the functioning of the town hall clocks—this indicator and witness of time."
If the unusual renewal of the town hall tower clock hands intrigued you, you could watch a video of its progress.
