"In Bavaria clocks are running differently..."Munich's "Isartor" Tower has received the first reverse running tower clock - conceived, manufactured and installed by the Rauscher Tower Clock Manufactory.Regensburg/Munich.As often before Petra Perle - since two years owner of the traditional coffee house "Turmstüberl" in the "Isartor" Tower - has looked out of the shop's kitchen window into the dark blue Bavarian sky. That's when she also glanced at the big, square shaped Tower and the empty space that used to be taken by the tower clock and that was removed in 1971. "Right there" city celebrity Perle had thought "something should be up there again. A new tower clock." more... |
Mittelbayerische Zeitung (~380kB) |
"In Bavaria clocks are running differently..."Munich's "Isartor" Tower has received the first reverse running tower clock - conceived, manufactured and installed by the Rauscher Tower Clock Manufactory.Regensburg/Munich.As often before Petra Perle - since two years owner of the traditional coffee house "Turmstüberl" in the "Isartor" Tower - has looked out of the shop's kitchen window into the dark blue Bavarian sky. That's when she also glanced at the big, square shaped Tower and the empty space that used to be taken by the tower clock and that was removed in 1971. "Right there" city celebrity Perle had thought "something should be up there again. A new tower clock." Her thoughts stopped right therefore the moment as she needed to see after her guests that had climbed the steep staircase to the café from the Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt-Musäum (note: Karl Valentin is a national icon and renown writer and actor famous for his wit and irony and his ability to closely watch and ironically comment every day life). Perle still kept on watching the empty space on the tower's façade. On day in November 2004 she saw a television feature on the world famous Rauscher Tower Clock manufactory in Regensburg and the very next day she was on the phone with Georg Rauscher III., who runs the fourth generation business. "Mrs. Perle" he said thoughtfully "Tower Clocks are nothing to be discussed in a hurry over the phone. I'll drive down to Munich to see you." And that's where the two of them stood looking at the famous Munich landmark. "Quite frankly Mrs. Perle" Georg Rauscher said with divine intuition "The clock should be running in reverse. That would surely make Karl Valentin very happy - should he still live." "Mr. Rauscher, you are a genius" Petra Perle exclaimed and hugged Georg Rauscher "That's what we'll do. And I will sponsor and dedicate this "crazy" clock for the city of Munich." Years before that Willy Brandt (famous politician) had already remarked that in Bavaria clocks (note: clock = things) are running differently." That's how it all started. Petra Perle had requested the permission to mount two new clocks on the middle tower of the famous Isartor - their faces each 2.80 meters in diameter. On the east facing side time is shown the "classic" way, on the tower's western side the two golden and hand gilded clock hands go in reverse. The roman numbers on the face have been painted the other way around too, so that reading the time takes a little bit of getting used to. From then on clocks (= things) ran unexpectedly quick and precise. "In an astonishingly short time span" remarks Petra Perle "the project was given green light." Munich's head mayor Christian Ude was said to be all excited about the idea. "Everything OK. I did it. You can start." Petra Perle informed Georg Rauscher over the phone in Regensburg. Georg Rauscher designed face and hands in baroque style and had the hands hand gilded with 24k gold leafs. The hands are driven by a strong electrical motor, the time signal and signal to move is given by the renown atomic CS 2 atomic clock from the Institute of physical and technical development in Braunschweig. The Karl Valentin clock runs in reverse mode - yet precise to the millionth fraction of a second. All that was needed to reverse the direction of the movement was an additional set of cog wheels for the clock facing the city. That's all there is to it. The clock - from what is known to historians - will be the only tower clock in Bavaria that runs in reverse mode - if not in Germany, Europe or even the world. On November 2nd and 3rd the two 50 kilogram faces and hour hands (7 kilograms each) as well as the minute hands (9.5 kilogram each) will be mounted on the Isartor Tower. On November 4th the clock will be inaugurated officially. Printversion back... |
Everything the other way around: Georg Rauscher III. with the tower clock's face that will be mounted on the tower of Munich landmark "Isartor", home of the Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt Museum. (Photo:altrofoto.de)
That's how it will look soon: the reverse tower clock on the Isartor Tower
Munich's famous "pearl" and owner of the "Turmstüberl" coffee house (Photo: Perle)
Bavaria's most famous comedian: Karl Valentin (1882 - 1948) (Photo: dpa) |