Its tick-tock never stops. And, just as everybody in the Lower Parel railway workshop glances at it four to five times a day, this gentle giant, 120 years old, has been witness to the workshop’s history, its moments of triumph and frustrations. And, now, giving it company is an equally old bell.

What’s more, apart from their joint location, the clock and the 43-cm tall bell have one more thing in common - they were manufactured by the same London-based company.

The clock was manufactured by Gillett & Co Manufacturers, Croydon, in the year 1889.

While the company started manufacturing clocks in 1844, a bell foundry was added in 1877 when Arthur Johnston joined the business, adding a bell foundry. William Gillett’s son Cyril then perfected the tuning of the bells.

The bell in the workshop was a well-tuned one, manufactured in 1890 by the firm that had by then successfully revived an old technique for tuning bells by shaving the bell’s interior to bring the bell’s natural harmonic series in tune with itself.

With its cast number intact, weighing 57 kg and with a diameter of 425 mm and height of 430 mm, railway officials said the bell’s construction and ring are similar to the first quarter bell, second quarter bell and hour bell placed in the mechanical engineering building of Imperial College at Knightsbridge, London.

The Croydon bell foundry was closed in 1957 and then demolished in 1997, its site now a place of worship. But from 1844 to 1954, 140,00 tower clocks were made at this foundry. And one of its masterpieces hangs at the Lower Parel workshop.

“As these two heritage things were co-related, we put them in together. Anyway, this combination looks nice,” said AK Garekar, chief works manager at the Lower Parel workshop. “Its sound is so sweet that everybody wants to hear it again and again.”

It is now rung at 11.15 am and then at 11.45 am to signal the start and end of lunch time, says M Kalimuthu, works manager (machine and plant) at the workshop.

On the other hand, the clock, which has a one-metre diameter, works mechanically on brass components to avoid corrosion. “The mechanism is compact, robust and simple, requiring no maintenance, so maintenance cost is nil. The spring is wound once a week for providing energy to run the clock,” says Kalimuthu.

The clock has a rope of brass wire with a 5 kg weight hanging on a brass pulley. On the other side, it is tied with a 29-kg counter weight. So, when the rope rotates forward, the hands of the clock move.

“For easy access to this mechanism, which is on the back of the wall holding the clock, we have built stairs so that people, especially children who are usually fond of such things, may come here and see the things of the past,” says Garekar.