The Presidency College turret clock stands as a silent witness to the earlier, and simpler times when residents of Goldighi depended on it to know the time.

But today the turret clock hangs unceremoniously, probably too old for Generation X, to spare a glance at it.

“We hardly ever notice that clock. Does it even work?” asks a student of the college.

The Presidency College was established in 1817 and classes were held in a rented house belonging to Gorachand Basak at Garanhatta (later number 304, Chitpore Road).

The new building on College Street was formally inaugurated on March 31,1874 by the then Lieutenant-Governor Sir George Campbell.

The idea of a clock in the college had first occurred to Rajnarayan Bose, a social reformer of the 19th century and a former student of the Hindu College.

He felt that a tower clock would add grandeur to the new building, besides helping students and residents of Goldighi to know the time.

Bose discussed the idea with Haramohan Chattopadhyay, who approached J Sutcliffe, the principal of Presidency College from 1864-1875.

Sutcliffe suggested that a tower clock, resembling the Big Ben of London, could be installed if a Bengali zamindar donated funds for it.

Sutcliffe estimated the cost of importing a clock, more than five feet in diameter, at Rs 5,400.

A Nadia zamindar Babu Nuffer Chandra Pal Chaudhuri contributed nearly Rs 5,000 in August 1874 and the clock was brought to India in May 1875 in a ship called the Duke of Buccbah.

The clock was formally placed on the tower in 1875. M/s Black and Murray in Kolkata was given the contract to wind the turret clock for Rs 20 every month.

The clock not only helped the students of the college but also the administrators and the faculty alike. Soon it became popular among the students, faculty and local residents.

Principal Sutcliffe received letters, which acknowledged that the turret clock was of great use for the residents of Goldighi, as it was visible from a long distance.

Around 1920 the famed clock stopped working. It was left hanging on the wall, neglected by the authorities, but nevertheless, standing tall bearing testimony to the legacy of the British Raj.

India attained Independence and the clock remained a mere showpiece. In 1991, Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay became principal of Presidency College.

His tenure coincided with the 175 year celebrations of the college for which it received a government grant of Rs 16 lakh.

“I was always fascinated by the clock and decided to get it operational once I took over. We kept aside nearly Rs 2 lakh of the grant to repair the turret clock,” said Mukhopadhyay, who was also a student of the college.

Besides this, the state finance minister, also a former student of the college, gave a special grant of Rs 1,60,000 for repairing the clock.

“It was a mammoth task to find a person who could repair the clock. After a lot of effort, we found one such person and the clock became functional in 1993,” said Mukhopadhyay.