Hyderabad: Three generations keep Charminar clocks alive and ticking

For over a century, Wahid Watch Company in Laad Bazaar has maintained the iconic clocks of Charminar. Brought from London in 1889, the clocks are still wound by hand every two days, thanks to generations of dedicated Hyderabad watchmakers

Hyderabad: For nearly a decade and half, thousands keep pace with time looking at the four clocks at the Charminar monument. Thanks to an old clock shop, at Laad Bazaar, which takes care of the maintenance of four clocks of the monument and ensures the giant clocks continue to tick.

The four clocks were added to the magnificent structure in the year 1889 during the reign of the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan.

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Historian Mohd Safiullah said the clocks were brought from London in 1889 and installed in four directions of Charminar. “It was to welcome the then viceroy and his wife to the city. The guests during those days went to Chowmahalla Palace, a little near Charminar, for meetings. The idea was also to introduce mechanical clocks in Hyderabad during that era,” said Safiullah. The clock facing the Gulzar Houz chimes every half an hour.

The clocks have to be keyed every two days. “There are two weights — one for the hour dial and one for the minute dial. As time passes, these weights descend, and after 48 hours, they must be wound back up, or the clock stops,” said Ghulam Rabbani, who runs the Wahid Watch Company after the demise of Sikander Khan, the third generation member of the family that for three generations took care of the maintenance of the clocks.

Safiullah explained that after the rule of the Nizams ended in 1947, several parts of the old British clocks were stolen. In 1962, when it came to light, the authorities decided to assemble the remaining parts of the four clocks into two and get them running.

Rasool Khan, the son of Nizams’ personal watch-repairer, Wahid Khan, was called and told about the challenging assignment. “He took it as a challenge and hand-made the missing parts and in no time, the four clocks started ticking and they continue working till date,” says Ghulam Rabbani.

After Rasool Khan, his son Sikander Khan continued the maintenance of the clocks. Sikander Khan passed away last year. His son lives abroad and the task of managing the Wahid Watch Company has now been entrusted to Ghulam Rabbani by Sikander Khan’s family.