The Balmoral Hotel clock tower in Edinburgh, Scotland, will remain at the wrong time, as it has done for the past 122 years. Back then, railway officials, who operated Edinburgh Waverley Station below the clock tower, decided that setting the hands forward by three minutes would help train passengers collect their tickets, reach their carriages and unload their luggage more efficiently. And the clock has been set three minutes fast ever since.
The clock is manually adjusted for daylight savings, but the hands cannot be wound. Instead, it is stopped for an hour in autumn and for 11 hours when the clocks are put forward in the spring. This year, the clock will be stopped for an hour at 02:00 on 31 October before running again three minutes ahead of time. The hotel pays specialists from Smith of Derby to adjust the clock for just a day during Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations on 31 December before setting it three minutes fast again.
The Scottish Baronial-style clock tower, designed by William Hamilton Beattie, rises 190ft (58m) into Edinburgh’s skyline. The original mechanism is still in place, but it is no longer used. Brian Duncan, chief engineer of the Balmoral Hotel, hopes to have it moved to a more public area of the hotel so visitors can see it. “It’s a massive operation to take it out of the clock tower due to its sheer weight. It’s made of steel and weighs at least half a tonne,” he said.
“The Balmoral” is Gaelic for “majestic dwelling” and the hotel itself, a landmark in Edinburgh, was opened as the North British Station Hotel. It was renamed the Balmoral in June 1991, in a ceremony led by actor Sir Sean Connery. Since then, it has hosted many celebrities, including JK Rowling, who finished the last book in her Harry Potter series in one of the hotel’s suites.
Brian said he is proud to look after such a famous clock. “It’s quite an achievement to be the chief engineer of such a clock,” he said. “And it gives me a wee bit of excitement when I look up at it; it’s beautiful.
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