For the clockmakers in old Delhi, time is a friend and an enemy
NEW DELHI: Mohammad Ayaz Khan, a clock repairer, prefers to be called a craftsman. His workshop in Churiwalan in the walled city is a charming little museum of antique clocks -mantel, wall, table-top and, cuckoo clocks -- many of them over a hundred years old. There are others packed in cardboard boxes that have come for repair from across the country through courier. “There are a few clockmakers like me who have survived in this age of quartz clocks,” says Khan as he examines, like a biologist, the clock plate of a century-old Smiths Enfield clock.
“Its bushings have worn off. I will have to disassemble its entire mechanism and change its bushing to make it tick again. This British clock was once one of the most soughtafter clocks brands all over the world,” says the affable Khan. The walls of his workshop have clocks of many top brands of yore such as Ansonia, Seth Thomas, Smith Enfield, and Seikosha.
For the uninitiated, Ansonia is an American company that started making clocks in Ansonia, Connecticut, in 1851, and later moved to Brooklyn New York; Seth Thomas is another American company that was incorporated in 1853; Smiths Enfield was among the first companies in Britain to get into mass manufacturing of domestic mechanical wall clocks in the 1930s; and Seikosha is a Japanese company formed in 1892, better known today as Seiko.
Spring-driven mechanical wall clocks, which harness the energy stored in a wound spring to keep the time, have a complex mechanism comprising a mainspring, several wheels, levers, and hammer, and a little maladjustment in any of the parts could result in inaccurate timekeeping or a jarring chime, says Khan.
“These mechanical clocks need to be wound at least once a week and serviced at least once a year in Indian weather conditions. The most common problem these clocks develop over the decades is the corrosion in the bushing that affects the wheel movement. People come to us when they fail to get their antique clocks repaired anywhere else,” says Khan, whose desk has a table lamp, range of forceps, screwdrivers, brushes, tweezers, spring winders, pliers. “I get clocks for repair from bungalows in Greater Kailash, Vasant Vihar, Sunder Nagar, and Defence Colony,” says Khan. He learnt clock repairing from his father Mohd
Ilyas Khan, who started the workshop in 1972.
“My clients include top lawyers, including two former attorneys general and many industrialists, who often invite me to their houses or offices to fix their faulty mechanical clocks, some of which are over 200 years old. These wall clocks were once the preserve of the rich, the famous and the royals,” says Khan, adding, “A clockmaker is an artisan with the temperament of a scientist.”
Indeed, historically, some of the early clockmakers also invented scientific instruments. Take for example John Harrison, the British clockmaker whose marine chronometers revolutionised seafaring in the 18th century.
And how much could a repair cost? Anything between ₹300 and ₹10, 000, depending on how old the clock is and what the fault is, says Khan.
“Sometimes it takes hours and sometimes it could take a week. And in some cases, we are unable to fix a clock. It happens when we are unable to get or fabricate a part.”
Not far from the Ayaz Khan’s workshop is Suhail Watch Company, near Jama Masjid, run by Suhail Akhtar.
Akhtar, 63, is a living encyclopedia on mechanical clocks and watches and nothing seems to perk him up more than a conversation about them.
Before the industrial revolution, he tells you, clocks were handmade and bore the name of the individual watchmakers rather than the companies.
“A clockmaker took care of the mechanism and then it would go to the case maker,” says Akhtar.
By the 20th century, standardized designs and parts made it possible to assemble clocks in factories, and clockmakers now specialised in the repair of clocks.
“But we still need to have all the skills of those early clockmakers to do our job well,” says Akhtar.
Most of his clients, he adds, are people who want to get the clocks of their grandparents’ or great grandparents repaired to preserve their memories. “Otherwise, I do not have many clients these days. Mechanical clocks lost their popularity when Quartz watches arrived in the 1970s and became popular in India by the mid-1980s,” says Akhtar. It is 4pm and a grandfather clock in his workshop produces what sounds like a single Westminster chime.
Quartz clocks that use an electronic oscillator regulated by a quartz crystal to keep time, Akhtar says, are slightly more accurate but they have depreciated the timepieces and his profession. “In Quartz clocks, all you need to do is replace the machinery or the battery. It takes a couple of minutes.”
Akhtar, a mechanical clock repairer for over 45 years, gets nostalgic as he talks about old clients that included the royals. “Many of them were zamindars and royals. A few years back, I was invited by a former royal in UP, who called me to repair the massive tower clock his family had installed in their city. But he said he was unable to pay the fee I demanded. They too, like us, have fallen on bad times.”
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has prepared a detailed plan to redevelop a 7km-long stretch along the Yamuna. The plan is to restore the ghats on the lines of their original design, and also put in place facilities such as cycling tracks, pedestrian pathways.
The stretch, located between Old Iron Bridge and Signature Bridge, has been divided into four zones: Surghat, Majnu Ka Tila and forest area, Qudsia Ghat and Yamuna Bazaar. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) has prepared the redevelopment plan for the stretch, and is at work on a pilot revamp at Qudsia Ghat
A senior DDA official said, “We decided to rope Intach in keeping the historical and cultural significance of this area in mind. The idea is to make the riverfront more accessible to people.”
DDA approved a proposal to restore and redevelop Qudsia Ghat in December last year.
Divay Gupta, principal director of Intach’s architectural heritage division, said, “During excavations at the site for a survey, we uncovered 14 ghats that were covered in silt or sand. These ghats, which are not very large, were built by families in memory of their relatives... We plan to restore them as per the original architecture,” said Gupta.
The restoration of Qudsia Ghat, which started in mid-October and will around ₹16 crore, will be completed within nine months, said Gupta. The DDA plans to develop a 3km-long cycling track, a pedestrian walkway, toilets and parking spaces at the ghat.
Gupta said a few ghats near the Old Iron Bridge were a part of Shahjahanabad. “We have old photographs of the ghats, so the areas between the two bridges will be recreated using these as references,” said Gupta.
Like Qudsia ghat, Yamuna Bazaar is of great historic significance. Located along Ring Road, the area has 32 contiguous ghats, which are used for religious activities till this day.
Rakesh Sharma, who owns a house in Yamuna Bazaar and is a member of the Yamuna Bazaar Priests Association, said, “A lot of people visit for a holy dip and prayers. But the area is in a mess. There is a drainage problem here, and the ghats desperately need to be repaired and maintained.”
DDA officials said that though it is called a “bazaar” (marketplace), the area has a series of old temples. The plan is to restore ghats and the structures using traditional material and techniques. “The additional structures that are obstructing the continuity of the ghats will be removed, missing damaged ghats will be restored, facilities such as toilet blocks etc will be built.”
As part of the project, the DDA has decided to remove the hard landscaping at Sur ghat, in accordance with National Green Tribunal (NGT) recommendations. At Majnu Ka Tila and the adjoining forest, spread over 33.3 hectares, the DDA plans to construct a wetland and an ecotrail.
“We will take up the restoration of the other three areas after the pilot project is complete,” said a senior DDA official aware of the development.
THE STRETCH BETWEEN OLD IRON BRIDGE AND SIGNATURE BRIDGE HAS BEEN DIVIDED INTO SURGHAT, MAJNU KA TILA AND FOREST AREA, QUDSIA GHAT