Zug,16.01.2009
The Zytturm repairs
The half-moon and the star are no longer in each other’s way. The most prominent clock in Zug ticks again.
Church tower technicians don’t need to work out in the gym. By the time he they get to the top of the Zytturm tower – there, where in older days prisoners were confined below the thick timber beams in small prison cells, they have had enough fitness for the day.
Radio controlled clock
“I set now the clock to high speed and then wait for the bells to chime – then I adjust the time”. The radio controlled clock in the Zytturm, which receives to-the-second exact time from Frankfurt, indicates the correct current time on the digital display. This is then passed on over an electric motor to the mechanical gear box of the four clocks. When the half hourly finally rings, the technician sets the clock to normal again. Outside on the huge clock dial of the Zytturm (2.8 m X 3.6m) the clock hands show the correct time. Exactly 2.30 p.m. it was yesterday, when the a new time started in Zug.
Better said, a new year. On the 31st of December 2008, shortly before midnight, the tower clock facing the Kolinplatz square stopped. Now, for the first time in the year 2009, it runs on time again. The reason for Zug’s timeless interval was a lead counterweight under the half moon of the hourly pointer. It had broken off and blocked the star at the end of the minute pointer. The two clock hands had to be dismantled on January 6th in order to repair them. Up until yesterday afternoon the central dial was bare. Completely timeless.
Fresh welding and rivets
“In our workshop in Andelfingen we welded and riveted the half moon and gave it a new coat of gold foil” explains Martin Meister from the Aarauer company Rüetchi. Finally, Zug is ticking again.
Source/Media Partner: Neue Zuger Zeitung