When the clocks go back, this landmark will still be wrong

As individuals throughout the UK roll their clocks again to GMT on Sunday, there’s one well-loved Scottish clock that can stay on the mistaken time.

Ever because the Balmoral Resort clock tower was in-built Edinburgh 122 years in the past, its time has intentionally been set quick.

The peculiar custom started after intervention by railway officers at Edinburgh Waverley Station, under the clock tower.

Within the period earlier than cellphones, when watches had been costly, the clock was well-used by practice passengers to look at their time.

Officers thought three additional minutes would give travellers extra time to gather their tickets, attain their carriages and unload their baggage earlier than the whistle blew.

It has been set three minutes quick ever since.

Brian Duncan, chief engineer of the Balmoral Resort, mentioned the custom would endure.

At 02:00 the clock will probably be stopped for an hour, and set working once more the standard three minutes forward of time.

“Passersby do not appear to note as we have by no means had a grievance concerning the time being mistaken throughout that hour,” he advised BBC Scotland.

“I believe it is as a result of it is occurring in the course of the evening.”

The Scottish Baronial-style clock tower was manually modified for daylight financial savings earlier than it was automated in 2014 – only a few months after Brian took the job of taking care of the clock.

The change was prompted after it stopped 3 times over a six week interval.

Brian mentioned one of many tons of of cogs inside the unique mechanism was slipping.

“I needed to make a really massive choice – can we proceed with the clock being defective or can we go for a small gear field managed by a pc,” he mentioned.

“We now have a really small gear field in comparison with the unique mechanism and a pc controls it.”

So Brian will probably be sleeping in his mattress when the clocks change.

The fingers on the 4 faces of the clock tower can’t be wound, so as an alternative the clock is stopped for one hour in autumn and for 11 hours when the clocks go ahead within the spring.

“It is all the time a Saturday evening, so individuals on Princes Avenue at the moment have often had a number of drinks so no-one actually notices,” he mentioned.

The one day the clock tells the true time is in the course of the countdown to the midnight bells throughout Edinburgh’s massive Hogmanay celebrations on 31 December.

The resort pays for specialists from Smith of Derby to alter the time for simply at some point to see within the New 12 months. Then it’s set three minutes quick once more.

The 62-year-old additionally defined how the clock retains its time in the course of the 12 months regardless of the forces of gravity on the minute hand.

“I used to be advised the load of gravity makes it quicker for the primary 30 seconds however then gravity makes it slower on the way in which again up so it equals out,” he mentioned.

The final time the clock broke down was for greater than a month in the summertime of 2020 in the course of the Covid lockdown.

He now all the time seems up at it within the morning from his tram journey to work to ensure it’s nonetheless working.

The clock tower, which was designed by William Hamilton Beattie, rises 190ft (58m) into the capital’s skyline.

The unique mechanism, though not used any extra, continues to be within the clock tower.

Brian mentioned he hopes at some point to have it moved right into a extra public space of the resort so guests can see it.

“It is a large operation to take it out of the clock tower as a result of its sheer weight. It is made from metal and weighs a minimum of half a ton.”

The Balmoral is the second most well-known clock within the UK after Large Ben.

“I like the clock and I am very proud to be answerable for taking care of it,” mentioned Brian.

“It is fairly an achievement to be the chief engineer of such a clock.

“And it offers me a wee bit of pleasure once I search for at it, it is stunning.”

The Balmoral Resort is itself a landmark in Edinburgh. It opened initially because the North British Station Resort.

It was re-named the Balmoral – a reputation derived from Gaelic which implies “majestic dwelling” – in June 1991, in a ceremony led by actor Sir Sean Connery.

Since then it has hosted many celebrities, together with JK Rowling, who completed the final ebook in her Harry Potter collection in one of many resort’s suites.