Old chimer has seen better days

Stop! Hammer time.

Blenheim’s ‘‘Big Ben’’ won’t be back in action as early as expected this week, as rusty bell hammers wait to be painted.

Christchurch watchmaker Geoff Butler has been working on the 91-year-old Seymour Square clock this week, finding ‘‘lots of problems’’.

However, nothing that couldn’t be fixed, he said, which meant the old chimer wouldn’t have to be automated – yet.

Butler started dismantling the clock on Monday and found rusty bell hammers and a broken wheel shaft, among other things.

The Marlborough District Council hired Butler to examine the clock after setting aside $100,000 for the restoration project.

Butler said a packed waiting list at the painters meant the hammers might not be ready for collection until the end of the week, delaying the return of the clock’s chime.

‘‘The chime will not be going until the hammers come back, so if they’re not ready at the end of the week, then we might have to come back [to Blenheim] when they are.’’

Butler said a new shaft was also being made up by engineering business Cuddon Ltd to replace the damaged original, located in a wheel on the strike side of the bell. ‘‘Why the shaft is broken, we don’t know.’’

The new shaft was due to be re-installed yesterday afternoon. An apprentice and staff member had flown up and joined Butler for repairs.

The team had dismantled the internal workings of the clock, cleaned them, and were piecing them back together yesterday, ahead of testing.

‘‘We’ve dismantled the clock and found lots of problems,’’ he said.

The World War I war memorial clock tower was built in 1928 and was one of 12 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZ) category one-listed places in Marlborough.

A council spokeswoman previously said the council did not need approval from HNZ to work on the clock tower, as the works fell under repair and maintenance.

Butler said he did not need to seek permission from the council before making repairs, because he was not altering a heritage-listed building.