Chur, 1634

Since the Late Middle Ages public clocks in Swiss towns, and presumably also in Chur, provided the rhythm in people’s every day lives: they structured their working day and called the worshippers to church at prayer times. Of the four old town clocks in Chur two have been preserved: The town-hall clock and our exhibit, the «Obertor» clock.

The old tower clockworks had to be wound up daily by the «Uhrenrichter» [person responsible for setting the clock], because if they stopped, only a clockmaker could get them running again. That seems to have happened quite often, because complaints about careless setting of the clocks were frequent.