Time change in Basel: who has turned the clocks?
Summertime is coming, and last night (Saturday) the clocks sprung forward by one hour. But how are the public clocks in Basel changed? Barfi.ch has spoken to Christian Jaggy, the electronic mechanic at the IWB, to ask how it works. In any case, the routine is very different these days compared to how it used to be.
For a long time, the summer time change has been the most exhausting night of the year for Christian Jaggy. This is because on that night, those responsible for public clocks in Basel had to change all of them by hand. This meant that, from 10pm to 6am, Mr Jaggy and a colleague were roaming the streets, climbing every church tower along the way, to bring in the new time. When the clocks were manually set, every clock was stopped and put back by one hour. This was the way summertime was brought to Basel.
In total, Basel-Stadt has 1,200 public clocks, with 160 of them in public areas and twelve on towers. The others are on duty in administration buildings. In the night of the time change it is mostly those clocks on the twelve towers which were to be turned back by an hour. How many stairs around the city did they have to climb in total? «Surely it was an entire fitness-programme on those nights,» said Christian Jaggy, laughing.
Time stands still
It is only in the last two years that Mr Jaggy and his colleague can be more relaxed about the weekend with the time change: «Clocks are steered via remote control,» the clock expert explained. He no longer has to travel around the city all night because his work is done by a signal. The pendulum is also stopped in this way: The impulse is sent away and magnets stop the movement of the pendulums. Eleven hours later the pendulum is set free again and the clock runs as usual - only with one hour of delay.
This means that in the night from Saturday to Sunday, public clocks stood still from 8pm to 7am the next morning, which is 8am according to summertime. «It's the quietest night in Basel,» said Christian Jaggy. This is because when the clocks stand still, the chiming of bells every 15 minutes does not indicate the time.
Time comes from Germany
The bells in Basel are ignited by clockworks which stem from the period between 1850 and 1870. When the electric company took over the care of the public clocks in 1930, they were electrified. Two years ago, the public clocks were connected to the remote system. The signal however does not come from a Swiss sender but from Mainflingen near Frankfurt am Main in the federal province of Hessen.
The radius of the sender reaches 6,000 kilometres and covers the entirety of central Europe. Three times a day, the remote clocks search for the signal, mostly around 2am, 8am, and 4pm. With the help of these signals they know the exact time. The clocks however always measure the time. As soon as a clock speeds up for four seconds, it stops working for four seconds. Then the time is accurate again.
That time change this year coincided ironically with the weekend of the busy «Baselworld» was «unfortunate» because of the large amount of traffic, said Christian Jaggy.
He said that despite all the modern technology, mistakes can still be made. That is why on Sunday and Monday after the time change, he carries out an inspection of all public clocks. Whether all clocks run smoothly or not is unclear. However it is certain that from Sunday onwards, the mornings will be darker and it will be 20 more days until they become brighter again. And then it becomes clear: Spring is back!
Four youngsters threatened and robbed at the Bollwerk promenade
The police are looking for witnesses after a group of teenagers were robbed on the Bollwerk promenade near Steinentorstrasse in the early hours of Saturday morning.
According to early investigations by the criminal police of the prosecution, the four 17-year-olds were walking along the Bollwerk promenade towards Wallstrasse when they were approached by a group of five teenagers.
The youngsters were then threatened and had money stolen from them before the thieves ran off towards Heuwaage. An immediate search by the police for the gang was unsuccessful.
The police are looking for:
1. Unknown person, around 18 years old, 190cm tall, with dark brown hair shaved at the sides with the top swept back. He was wearing a bright brown bomber jacket, dark trousers, and bright coloured shoes. He also had a beard and spoke Swiss German.
2. Unknown person, around 18 years old, around 170cm tall, and was wearing a red baseball cap. He spoke Swiss German.
3. Unknown person, around 18 years old, with a round face, and short hair at the sides and swept back on top. He was wearing a black top and spoke Swiss German.
4. Unknown person, around 18 years old. No further description was given.
5. Unknown person, 18 years old. No further description was given.
Witnesses with information are asked to contact the criminal police of the prosecution Basel-Stadt or go to the nearest police station.