The elderly clock mechanism, in what was originally the Oamaru post office tower, requires ongoing regular maintenance to keep things tickety boo.
A council spokesman said their horologist, from Oamaru jewellers and watchmakers Mathers, reset the mechanism last week to ensure the bell tolls the correct number of times, and at the right time for the hour.
"It’s now ringing correctly."
The internal workings of the "very old heritage-listed mechanism" last slipped up in January — not wholly unusual given its age — and required a reset.
The clock is driven by electric motors but the mechanism itself was prone to a slight creep.
"It’s 121 years old — it’s an ageing mechanism. We need to keep an eye on it."
But scaling the tower to fix the clock was also an opportunity for council staff to snap a visual picture of what the tower looks like internally — something most Oamaruvians these days are unlikely to have the opportunity to see.
However, in the "good old days" it seems the clock tower was the place to be.
Graffiti appended to the tower structure attests to past hijinks where local residents had clambered up the tower to be on the spot to "ring in" the new year.
