In the Mühlviertel

Church tower clock is still reset by hand

Parish assistant Peter Keplinger with the clockwork

(Bild: © Diözese Linz / Renate Enöckl)

In Windhaag near Freistadt, time literally stands still for an hour on Sunday night: While most church clocks are already reset by radio from summer to winter time and back again, this is still done by hand in the Mühlviertel community. Two volunteers stop the nine-meter-long pendulum for an hour on Saturday evening.

Josef Traxler and Josef Fenzl have been friends since their school days - and twice a year they have something else in common: they climb the 33 narrow and steep steps to the clock in the tower of the parish church and set the 19th century clockwork to summer or winter time mode. While the changeover to summer time means that you really have to turn the clock with pliers, the changeover to winter time is more leisurely: "We simply stop the pendulum for an hour," explains Traxler. The two of them pass the waiting time with a coffee or a beer. "The real difficulty is not losing track of the time."

Josef Traxler and Josef Fenzl reset the clockwork twice a year

(Bild: © Diözese Linz / Renate Enöckl)

"Our pendulum is nine meters long"
Traxler and Fenzl also look after the tower clock in the periods between the time changes: "Our pendulum is nine meters long," explains parish assistant Peter Keplinger, "it expands in the heat and contracts in the cold. Then the time is no longer correct." That's when Fenzl, a retired locksmith, is on hand to set the clockwork back in time.

All done by hand

(Bild: © Diözese Linz)

 200 church clocks in Upper Austria
However, most church clocks are already reset automatically. When problems arise, master clockmaker Günther Köstner from Engelhartszell is on hand. He looks after around 200 church clocks in Upper Austria. The movements are less prone to errors during the fall changeover than in spring, because "in spring the clocks are set forward and then receive an electronic pulse every three seconds", he says, "in fall they are simply stopped for an hour". Nevertheless, he expects several clocks to be used on Monday. There are usually five to 15 per year that need repairing due to defects caused by the time changes.