Rajkot: Gongs of the wall clocks have fallen silent in most households in the digital age. But you could soon walk down the nostalgic lane in India’s ‘clock town’ Morbi and take time out to view these old timekeepers in a special museum.Clock makers in Morbi have jointly planned to build a museum showcasing all the wall clocks made in the town ever since its inception in 1947. The town which makes 1.5 lakh pieces every day — claimed to be the highest in Asia - had nothing to showcase or document this 75-year-old legacy. Therefore, around 150 businessmen of Morbi Wall Clock Manufacturing Association got together and floated the idea of this museum. Ajanta Group and Oreva Group, which revolutionized clock making in India in the 70s, have offered to provide all the necessary financial help to make this project successful.Jaisukh Patel, managing director, Oreva Group said, “We want to show people the evolution of clocks, the technology changes that came in, the pioneering role of Morbi in this industry and how these clocks brought about a change in the life of people.”‘Scientific’ was the first company to start production of clocks on a mass scale in Morbi in 1946-47. The company was making mechanical clocks, which had a pendulum and required winding with a key every week to keep it running. The makers then shifted to transistor clocks in 1970s but the advent of quartz in 1980s did away with pendulum due to more accuracy, revolutionized the industry. time. In the decade of 2000, the digital clocks flooded the market, which even showed date, day, temperature, humidity, pollution level and other information.Getting antique wall clocks for the museum is a challenge. Shashang Dangi, president of Morbi Wall Clock Manufacturing Association said, “When Ajanta came in 1970s, around 90% companies manufacturing clocks since 1947 had to down shutters. Therefore, we have asked all association me-mbers to help us find antique clocks. We will also contact our distributors in various parts of the country to get the antique pieces.” “For example, we have our oldest distributor in Kolkata who might help us get the five-decade old clocks,” he said.The association has already begun a hunt for old clocks and members have also been requested to contribute to the museum if they have preserved some. The budget for the museum has not been decided yet and the location will be finalized in upcoming meeting of the association.

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