I am a Greek amateur historian, writing about the curious history of the Omega clock tower of the remote and mountainous village of Nymfaion (Nevesca), in Macedonia, Western Greece (http://static.panoramio.com/photos/medium/12170794.jpg)

The building and clock tower were built in 1927-1928 by Jean Nicou (1876-1930), a wealthy Greek of Nymfaion, who had emigrated to Sweden.

Jean Nicou became very wealthy as a tobacco merchant, worked for the Swedish Tobacco Monopoly, and donated a magnificent school in his native Nymfaion, equipped with the latest science and chemistry instruments.

Apparently he got in touch with both Omega and the Rüetschi AG company in Aarau from whom he bought an Omega clock and a Rüetschi AG Aarau bell, which he put on the clock tower.

Both the clock and bell are in working, if poor, condition, still chiming the half hour and hours when properly winded (running takes about one week and then needs rewinding). The town people remember the clock being originally powered by batteries and later (in 1968) modified to work with a pendulum mechanism.

The four faces of the clock bear an OMEGA sign in Greek, ΩΜΕΓΑ, as well as a puzzling BOURLA (ΜΠΟΥΡΛΑ in Greek).

I am not aware of any other Omega Tower Clocks nor of any instances where the Omega brand name was written in Greek. And I am puzzled by the word BOURLA on the four faces of the clock.

Can any OMEGA expert provide more information of such Omega clocks elsewhere or possibly help solve the mystery of the BOURLA inscription on the four faces of the clock?

Thank you!

 

Hello.
Perhaps you can contact the omega museum in Switzerland, I am sure they can help you. I had my second teaching post in Greece, 20 years ago. My memory of Greece is that it is a beautiful country with warm friendly people, although when I first arrived I thought everyone was shouting at each other all the time, they seemed quite animated when having a chat

 

Hello lillatroll. I did contact the Omega museum just the other day, but have yet to receive a reply. Hopefully I will hear from them.
Yours is a typical experience of Greece. I'm Greek and I still can't get used to all the shouting.

 

Greece must be a good place to be a historian

And a nice mystery to boot. Does BOURLA mean anything in Greek? It Immediately made me think of Pierre Bourla (1783-1866) who was a French architect (I know this because there's a theater in Antwerp named after him). It's unlikely that he designed the tower though, given the timeframe. But it could still be a family name.

 

Thank you dialstatic for the input. I believe architectural designs for the entire building were made in Sweden, as Jean Nicou (the donor of the building) lived and prospered there. The name Bourla does not mean anything in Greek...Swedish family name though? Maybe a Swedish member of the omegaforums.net can help with Swedish architects named Bourla around 1925? But why would they put the name on the face of the clock? Unless he was a clock engineer working with Omega?

 

Not Swedish, but close enough to know that Bourla is neither a common name nor a word in the Swedish language.

 

Thanks Northernman. There goes the Swedish theory...
Does anyone know of another instance where the face of an Omega watch or clock was inscribed with the word OMEGA in Greek? That is, not OMEGA, but ΩΜΕΓΑ; I keep wondering whether OMEGA (still a rather young company under that name in 1928) conceded that point when faced with a large order from a Greek magnate and allowed its clock to bear the (Greek in origin) brand name in Greek, since it was to be installed for Greece...
Does that sound plausible?
And, does anyone know of another clock tower bearing the OMEGA name (constructed in the 20th century)?

 

The name Bourla seems to appear most frequently by far in France (but also in the US, Switzerland, Italy, Greece). It is a Sephardic Jewish name that in the Judaeo-Spanish language means "onyx", adopted by Jews in the jewelry trade.

 

I must admit to be totally uneducated on the matter but: Did Omega Bienne/Switzerland ever build large tower clocks like the one shown?
"Omega" has also loads of other meanings and references.

 

Good lead dialstatic!

The village of Nymfaio (where the clock tower is found) is indeed historically famous for its jewelry making (especially silversmithing) tradition and there were Jewish families named Bourla in the nearby city of Salonika. So, perhaps someone (a Jewish watch/jeweler expert) who maybe fabricated or designed the faces of the clock (although the clock mechanism itself very probably came from Omega I doubt it that the huge clock faces would also have been bought in Bienne in 1928 and transported from Switzerland to the remote mountain village of Nymfaio)? Anyone familiar with a Bourla family in Greece involved in such a trade at that time (1928)?

"Starting from the late 17th century, the town was one of the largest silversmithing centres in the Balkan area and remained in this dominating position for almost three centuries." http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/mainland/nymfaio

 

This is what I am also trying to confirm. But we have at least three clues that this might indeed be an Omega clock:
1) The town people insist that the clock is Swiss (Omega). Oral tradition, but still...
2) The building itself was used as a school and the benefactor (Jean Nicou) had installed electric Omega clocks on all classrooms
3) The clock bell was made in the nearby Swiss town of Aarau (77 km from Bienne). See photo. I would assume that the Omega people suggested that the buyer buys his clock bell from their famous neighbours.

 

I just have not ever heard about Omega building any clocks in those dimensions.
Any symbols or writing on the clockwork itself?
Casting bells and building clocks are indeed two very different crafts.

 

This is the company that made your bell:
http://www.guk.ch/e/company.html
They are still in operation.

 

Perhaps Bourla had some connection to Bourla Schouwburg who made machinery for theaters and the like?

 

This is why I contacted the Omega Museum. I hope I hear back from them. They might have records of the 1928 sale. No symbols or writing on the clock, as far as I can tell...

 

Dialstatic suggested that, a few replies up. Cannot rule it out, but Bourla himself was an architect, died in 1866, well before the time the clock tower was built (1928). The machinery was made by Philastre and Cambon in 1834, a French company.

 

Wrote to them a couple of days ago. Waiting to hear from them. Fascinating 600 year old company, great video presentation here:

 

So did he invent nicoutine?

 

Just found out that indeed there was a prominent Jewish family of jewelers named BOURLA in the nearby city of Salonika at the time. So maybe a master jeweler of the BOURLA family had designed the clock faces.

Still no news from the Omega Museum. Still hoping.

 

Just a few questions: Do you have pictures of these electric clocks?

Is there any record or history of the tower clock's conversion from electric to hand crank? How did it look like in electric form? I'd guess the conversion would have changed almost, if not all, everything that runs behind the face of the clock. Who made the manual wound mechanism?

Did the same names/labels exist on the faces from the beginning? How many times and when was the last time the clock's faces were restored or repainted?