Deep inside the Residency Building, the hourly sound of clock has become part of the routine for the students of the Koti Women’s College. They hear the sound from the Sultan Bazar Clock Tower. Laxman Chugani, who lives in Begum Bazaar area, wakes up to the sound of the clock going off a kilometre away from the Moazzam Jahi Clock Tower. Commuters on their way to work and while returning look at the watches when the Secunderabad Clock Tower starts striking the hour.
“The clocks at the Shahalibanda and Murgi Chowk will start functioning soon. We have already affixed clocks on five clock towers in the city. We are working on a 10-foot clock in Siddipet,” says Mr. Chugani who is behind the return of the familiar hourly chimes at a number of locations in the city including Secunderabad, James Street and Monda Market.
The old clocks inside the clock towers had a geared mechanism to move the hour and minute hand and bang the gong periodically. The newer clocks being installed by Ramesh Swiss Watch are digital ones with Global Positioning System (GPS) and are accurate to 500 millisecs. Outfitted with an amplifier and a speaker, the customised chimes can be heard in a radius of two kilometres. If there is a disruption in electric supply, the clocks readjust the time.
