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SCMP Reporter

THE 74-year-old clocks on top of the famous tower at the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront are winding down for a clean-up.

  Engineers will remove 24 gears controlling movements of the four clocks for inspection and oiling, and replacement of damaged parts.

  The mechanism has not been changed since the clocks were built, although their manufacturer no longer exists - government craftsmen will have to re-make some of the parts themselves if they need replacements.

  A toothed wheel on one of the clocks can be as big as a television screen.

 The old gears were replaced when the tower was handed over to the Government in 1978 as the old Kowloon-Canton Railway terminus was moved to Hunghom.

  The maintenance is expected to last about two months, according to the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department.

  The department's senior engineer (municipal services sub-division) She Siu-kuen says staff check the clocks' accuracy twice daily. Regular oiling is done monthly.

  Larger-scale maintenance is conducted every two years.

  The clock tower was erected as part of the train terminus in 1915. The clocks and a bell were installed in 1920 and were started on March 22 the next year.

  The project cost the Government about $8,500.

  Only the Japanese occupation stopped the clocks.

  Four motors, one for each face, were installed to drive the clocks in 1950. But this led to a small difference in the time shown by each clock and the chiming of the bell was then abandoned.

  Following the terminus' removal to Hunghom, the Tsim Sha Tsui station was demolished.

  Only the 44-metre high clock tower, topped by a seven-metre antenna on a slender steel support, was preserved and worked into plans for the Hong Kong Cultural Centre's piazza.



Time stands still for repair work