Kcajun Juromill Burton

A vicious vandal strikes a famous clock built in Detroit

Posted: 10:37 PM
Last Updated: 11 hours and 32 minutes ago
By: Jennifer Herman

DETROIT (WXYZ) - A man visiting the Detroit Historical Museum damaged a famous clock over a century old.

The Meier Clock, also known as Meier’s “Wonderful Clock” was built in Detroit more than a century ago to demonstrate the skill of clockmaker Louis Meier, Sr. The clock advertised his jewelry store located on Gratiot and East Grand Boulevard.

The man pulled a fire alarm and then damaged the Meier Clock which is located near the Museum Store in the Detroit Historical Museum.

Engines from the Detroit Fire Department, Wayne State University Police and Detroit Police all responded. The man was arrested by Wayne State University Police.

The clock is set in a solid mahogany-carved case, weighs 2,500 pounds and stands 15-feet high by 7-feet wide. The main dial, propelled by a single pendulum, gives the time of the principal nations of the world. At the top of the dial is an illuminated moon phase, and at the bottom a perpetual calendar showing the day, month and year. A 12-inch globe revolves on its axis once every 24 hours.

As the Westminster chimes sound the quarter hour, a child’s figure emerges. A young man strikes the half hour, a middle aged man the third quarter and Father Time himself strikes the hour!

The Meier Clock has a long history. It was displayed at the Michigan State Fair in 1906 and at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1934. It remained in the window of Louis Meier’s jewelry store until 1940 when it was moved to L.M. Gear, a precision gear company also founded by Meier and located at Gratiot and Nine Mile.

In 1982, Frank Meier, grandson of the clock builder, and his family donated the clock to the Detroit Historical Museum. Members of the Great Lakes Chapter of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors helped restore the clock, installing an electrical mechanism to re-wind the clock. In 1999, a team of conservators fully restored the clock’s mechanism, figures and case.

The clock has stood still since 2006 when the museum was advised by conservators to turn it off for visitors.

The man was taken into custody by police after he pulled the fire alarm at 3:15 p.m. and damaged the Meier Clock, located in Round Hall near the Museum Store, according to a release about the incident issued by the museum. The clock's value and an estimate of damage are not available, museum spokesman Bob Sadler said today.

"This certainly is a one-of-a kind artifact, and it’s more than a century old," Sadler said. "We’re still in the process of assessing the damage at this point. Our curator of collections did come over to the museum to kind of get started in that assessment process."

http://www.freep.com/article/20120217/NEWS01/120217010/Century-old-Detroit-Historical-Museum-clock-vandalized