Aqua Horological Tintinnabulator

The Aqua Horological Tintinnabulator (also known as the Victoria Centre Clock or the Emett Clock or The Time Fountain is a 'water-powered' clock in Nottingham, England.

It was commissioned by Capital and Counties in 1970 and designed and built by kinetic sculptor Rowland Emett. A photograph shows a pencilled note on a whitewashed beam in Emett's barn:26th August 1970 (1/2 Closing Day) construction of the fountain started. Installation commenced late 1972 (the year the Victoria Centre opened) and was completed before 20 February 1973. The foundation stone reads THE VICTORIA CENTRE TIME FOUNTAIN FEBRUARY 20TH 1973 BY EMETT. In its original design, this clock played Rameau's Gigue en Rondeau II from the E-minor suite of his Pièces de Clavecin when striking the hour and half hour. The clock parts were designed by Thwaites & Reed.

It is 23ft high and has become an icon of Nottingham.

Between its installation in 1973 and 2010, around £250,000 in coins had been thrown into the fountain.

It is topped by four silver-white clock faces with golden hands and numerals. The animated sculpture underneath consists of a sunflower with 36 copper petals, partially obscuring an orchestra of six jewelled players; three squirrels and three birds. At fifteen-minute intervals, a bell strikes followed by a performance; the petals are lowered to reveal the players, the entire orchestra rotates and each player spins on its vertical axis. The music for harpsichord Gigue en Rondeau II plays for around 75 seconds after which the petals are raised and the animation ceases. A two-metre diameter cobweb wheel carrying jewelled butterflies and frogs rotates continuously during the daytime as does the 'Top Feature' which consists of three arms with jewelled pendants: one is a flying fish ridden by a squirrel, the second is a squirrel pushing a pram with a bird's nest and birds above, the third is a peacock rowing a boat with a squirrel on the rudder. In the middle of the sculpture is a floral bouquet sitting on a large copper leaf, adorned by jewelled birds. The clock originally struck and performed on the hour and half hour but was modified at some point to perform every fifteen minutes. Motive power is provided by four 230 Volt AC Parvalux geared motors (cobweb wheel, Top Feature, petals and orchestra) and two 230 Volt AC Crouzet synchronous motors (going and strike trains). The bell solenoid is powered by 240VDC pulses. Electrical control of the motors is via 12 Volt DC relays.

...
Wikipedia