It’s often said a broken clock is still right twice a day — and so it’s been for people in Thames, with the town’s clock tower out of action for at least a decade.
It’s believed to be more than 10 years since the clock tower on the corner of Pollen St and Mary St last ticked or tocked.
Thames residents are left to guess the time after years of clock tower problems.
With the clock out of service, residents have been left to assume it is always 4.34.
“The clock stopped working, it’s privately owned, and now it’s going to cost quite a bit of money to get it fixed,” Thames-Coromandel Mayor Len Salt told Breakfast.
The cost for reconstruction has been estimated to be around $10,000 plus GST.
“We’ll come up with a plan, and I reckon, as a community, we’ll fix it.”
The mayor said a retired clockmaker had previously repaired the pendulum clock, but he had since died.
“[The clock maker] installed a gearbox and an electronic mechanism to ensure the clock would stay in sync and in time.”
The mayor said it worked for a while but soon stopped working.
The clock tower has sat on the corner of Pollen St and Mary St since its installation in 1968.
The current clock tower owners, GDC Buildings, say they know the clock time is wrong and would like to work with the council to restore it.
People have also taken to Facebook with their own suggestions.
One user proposed solar panel-run LCD screens with clock faces showing times around the world.
Another suggested a sign stating ‘time doesn’t matter in Thames’ would suffice.
By Breakfast’s Nikki Smith
