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The curious story of an Omega Tower Clock 1928 in a remote village in Greece

489G
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TNTwatch TNTwatch
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?

These are all good questions TNTwatch, thank you for helping me pursue my interest by asking the right questions.

I have asked a local councilman for any photos of the tower clock mechanism prior to 1968, year on which the conversion was made from electric to pendulum (the town people insist that the clock always had two crankshafts, the left one facing the clock for the bell and the right one for the clock). I am afraid I am not at all knowledgeable on why crankshafts were needed if it run on batteries... The person who was charged with winding the clock, now too old to perform his duties, told me that the clock originally ran on 3-4 glass alkaline batteries, to which the older school children (!) added ammonia once a month. The batteries were recharged in a wind turbine nearby. They batteries produced a low voltage, maybe 2,5 V (unconfirmed). The weights took 6 days and 18 hours to reach the bottom (by a slight calculation error they were hanged a few feet too low), so instead of having a run time of 7 days the clock needed full rewinding 4 hours short of that.

I am also told that in 1968 a clock maker from the nearby town of Kozani (incidentally also famous for its tower clock, built in 1939) removed the batteries and added a pendulum, effectively converting it. The old tube and knob wiring was no longer used. See photos with pendulum, from above the mechanism and traces of tube and knob wiring on the top right corner of the third photo (also showing the main shaft driving the hands on the four clock faces).

As for the names/labels, village elders tell me that these are the original faces, never restored or repainted.

Regrettably, all OMEGA electric clocks that adorned the classrooms were removed during a recent renovation, now presumed lost. I am trying to find old photos of the classrooms, hoping to spot any such clocks in them.

That's all I have to offer, I'm afraid.
 
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489G
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speedy4ever speedy4ever
The curator of the Museum is greek, thus might interest him
Thanks for the tip speedy4ever!
 
Canuck
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An initial impression is that this clock is older that the Omega company name, and likely would date back to the Louis Brandt era. And I think I am safe in saying that Louis Brandt nor his sons had anything to do with the actual manufacture of this clock.
 
489G
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Thank you Canuck. I don't know what to make of that...It's true, the clock mechanism does seem quite crude to my eyes, but I confess I know next to nothing of clocks. Would it look better if it was taken care of, cleaned, polished and properly oiled? Possibly. However the building and clock tower was definitely completed in 1928 and the clock bell does have a Rueschi AG Aarau engraved stamp, dated 1928. The only other vague clue as to the clock's provenance or date is a piece of the original (I assume) crate it came from, now seen from the floor below and looking up, incorporated into the flooring that forms the base of the paneled compartment containing the clock. It reads "FRAGILE" in old french type (center of the photo, between the clock weights).
 
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styggpyggeno1
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Relatives of Jean Nicou, bearing the same name, are still around in Sweden. Hans Eric Jean Gösta Nicou - a name that pops up from time to time in a somewhat unusual context (and nice)... He is on the top 20 list of who pays the most tax in Sweden.
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STANDY
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Having a closer inspection of the clock with a inspection mirror may uncover a makers plate as most mechanical parts will have one somewhere.

image.jpeg
 
UncleBuck
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489G 489G
That's all I have to offer, I'm afraid

I'm afraid you have very much to offer!

Your sense of intricacy, of artistry and of history is most welcome here.

Please join us regularly, research diligently and photograph repeatedly!

Thank You for quite an interesting post..


May I ask the significance of 489G?:
 
Canuck
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489G,

You may have mis- interpreted my comment. While it would look better cleaned up and deluxed a bit, even in pristine condition, it still looks to me to be 19th century. In an era when Omega was known as Louis Brandt & Freres. In other words, prior to Brandt being re-named as Omega.
 
489G
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styggpyggeno1 styggpyggeno1
Relatives of Jean Nicou, bearing the same name, are still around in Sweden. Hans Eric Jean Gösta Nicou - a name that pops up from time to time in a somewhat unusual context (and nice)... He is on the top 20 list of who pays the most tax in Sweden.

Thank you. Must spread that habit in Greece too! I guess this is also why Sweden is such a wonderful place.
 
489G
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STANDY STANDY
Having a closer inspection of the clock with a inspection mirror may uncover a makers plate as most mechanical parts will have one somewhere.

image.jpeg

I had a hunch as much and did look for such markings, but didn't realize that it would take an inspection mirror. Thanks for the tip STANDY! I have to go back up the rickety ladders again...! (photos of my kids and their friends going up the ladders).
The only marking I could make on the structure were the "Fragile" sign on the bottom of the paneled compartment that houses the clock and a curious 'JCB 6370' marking on one of the weights. But the weight could be of a much later date, even discarded artillery shell or shell casing... http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-artillery-shells-and-shell-casings
That part of Greece saw quite a lot of action in WWII.
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Ladder1.JPG Ladder2.JPG Weight2.png Weights.jpg
489G
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UncleBuck UncleBuck
I'm afraid you have very much to offer!

Your sense of intricacy, of artistry and of history is most welcome here.

Please join us regularly, research diligently and photograph repeatedly!

Thank You for quite an interesting post..


May I ask the significance of 489G?:

I am very flattered by your kind words, as I feel very much ignorant amid all the friendly experts here!
As for the 489G. I usually create usernames by shutting my eyes and punching random keys on my keyboard... No great story here...!
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STANDY
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If you shine a torch on the inspection mirror on a angle you will see in dark spots also. 😉 They can be picked up for $5 at any car spare parts type shop.
 
ossfm
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489G 489G
I usually create usernames by shutting my eyes and punching random keys on my keyboard... No great story here...!

Being a computer guy (notice Tux the Linux penguin in my avatar) who is also interested in security, I think that is a great story!

I've very much enjoyed reading about The Mystery. Thanks for bringing it to us and keep up the good work!
 
489G
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The good people of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC), a US non-profit organization with about 14,000 members, have now picked up the thread and I'm hoping that we'll get more good leads soon. Check their link here: http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?133663-Omega-Tower-Clock

Thank you ElectricTime. Funny to see a vertical clock tower bridging two continents. This is now officially an intercontinental quest to solve a Greek-Swedish-Swiss mystery!
 
489G
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A very interesting development to the mystery today! On the advice of a very knowledgeable and friendly expert I was directed to the clocks of the French Jura (horloges Odobey). As I started researching the clocks I landed on this site http://sophie-mouton.info/tag/Jura and then found a nearly identical clock face to the one of our clock tower of Nymfaio. The face depicted below is the Horloge d'édifice, porte de Nozeroy, signed L.D. Odobey Cadet - Morez (Jura). Next to it is our clock. Similar material, similar design, same typeface, same number and size of dots marking the minutes, even similar wear around the edges. Different hands though...

How strange is that? So, were the faces of the clock now adorning the tower of a mountain village of Nymfaio made by the masters of Odobey (or by a design made by them)? Was Bourla an installer? A Jura company maybe?

Any leads? Anyone knows when the Horloge d'édifice, porte de Nozeroy, was made? Any chance around 1928?
Where can we take it from here?
 
HorlogeEdificeNozeroy.jpg.png Nymfaion Tower Clock Face.jpg
dialstatic
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The similarity is striking (pun intended). So much so that one can rule out coincidence, or even copying the style. Quite interesting development indeed.

The document below may be of some interest. Google translation:

"An almost disappeared heritage deserves mention: the clock-towers that closed the fortifications of our bailliagères towns like Arbois, Poligny or Saint- Claude ( movement Mayet 1686 ), towers demolished in the 1800s. Some remains in the Jura tower Nozeroy ( dial Odobey Cadet ) , Lons-le-Saunier Sellières that we are studying"

http://www.horlogerie-comtoise.fr/docs/Conference-AG-2012.pdf
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489G
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489G 489G
Thanks JimInOz, we have entertained this thought and discussed it earlier. All possibilities are still open...!

Ok, we're getting there. I am being helped enormously by knowledgeable people.

S. Bourla et Fils, a family of jewelers, were the Omega representatives in the nearby city of Thessaloniki (Salonika) at the time. This is also in line with the information provided by JimInOz in his link. A Solomon (Charles) Bourla appears in the book The Agony of Greek Jews, 1940–1945 By Steven Bowman. We get a matching S. Bourla.

Also being conclusively told that the clock cannot possibly be an Omega, as Omega never manufactured clocks.

So, to sum up what we know or has been suggested so far:

1) Not an Omega.
2) Faces strikingly similar to faces made by Odobey Cadet of Morez, Jura.
3) S. Bourla et Fils, representatives of Omega in Greece at the time, having their name (and the Omega name in Greek) put on the clock faces.
4) Mechanism looks "older that the Omega company name, and likely would date back to the Louis Brandt era. And I think I am safe in saying that Louis Brandt nor his sons had anything to do with the actual manufacture of this clock".
5) Clock bell is made by Ruetschi AG, Aarau
6) No identifiable markings on the clock mechanism.

The plot thickens....





PS. (I had to delete a previous post of mine, a red herring...)
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