Clock will once again tick tock

After three years of getting the ‘hiccups’ and being tweaked back into life; the Havelock North town clock is about to undergo a time-saving operation.

For nearly a year the clock has not been functioning at all.

Delays in being able to repair the clock have been caused by the need to carry out an engineering assessment on the building prior to ordering the replacement, and organising the delivery of the very special internal workings that would fit into the original.

The clock will be functioning perfectly by the end of July – well ahead of its 80th anniversary on June 11 next year.

The issue came to a head last year when the specialist who had been tweaking the clock advised Hastings District Council that he could do no more to keep it going given the mechanism’s age.

He said the “technology was worn out. All the internal mechanics and the clock faces were cracked and unable to be repaired,” a Council spokesperson said.

So the hunt was on to find a company specialising in heritage-styled clock parts which would fit. It needed to be a company capable of replacing “like for like” and the search extended across the world to France.

Havelock North company Lauranka was charged with finding the replacement for Council.

“The suppliers have replicated the existing face and hands as close to the original as possible,” Council said.

The replacement is coming from Bodet, a 150-year-old French company which specialises in timepieces, including the repair of heritage clocks.

Scaffolding will go up on Sunday [July 17], with work expected to be completed by the end of the month. The project is costing $16,000.

Before ordering new the new clock parts, Council took the opportunity to do an earthquake assessment of the building. Staff were pleased to find that while some minor work is required, the building and clock meet the building code requirements.

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