Taylor war ein Alumnus, der sein Verm$$gen mit der Erfindung der kleinen Thermostate in Wasserkochern machte. Er investierte eine Million Pfund und f$$nf Jahre in dieses Projekt mit der Absicht, eine Hommage an fr$$he Uhrmacher zu schaffen, jedoch mit einer h$$chst rebellischen Wendung. Traditionelle Uhren verbergen ihr Innenleben sicher, doch Taylor kehrte diese komplett nach au$$en. Er nahm die Hemmung - den internen Mechanismus, der die Zahnr$$der einf$$ngt und wieder freigibt, damit eine Uhr tickt - und verwandelte sie in das alles beherrschende visuelle Merkmal. Diese grimmige Kreatur, die obenauf sitzt, ist die Hemmung selbst. Taylor nannte sie den ‘Chronophage’, was aus dem Griechischen w$$rtlich als ‘Zeitfresser’ $$bersetzt wird. Schauen Sie in Ihre App f$$r eine Nahaufnahme seines f$$rchterlichen Gesichts. Es bei$$t tats$$chlich auf die Sekunden ein, w$$hrend sie vergehen, und blinzelt gelegentlich in grimmiger Genugtuung. Darunter ert$$nt ein unheimliches mahlendes Ger$$usch, und die volle Stunde wird durch eine Kette markiert, die in einen verborgenen Holzsarg scheppert.
Taylor was an alumnus who made his fortune inventing the little thermostats used in electric kettles. He poured a million pounds and five years into this project, intending it to be a tribute to early clockmakers, but with a highly rebellious twist. Traditional clocks hide their inner workings safely away, but Taylor turned this one entirely inside out. He took the escapement, which is the internal mechanism that catches and releases the gears to make a clock tick, and transformed it into the dominating visual feature.
That grim creature sitting on top is the escapement itself. Taylor named it the Chronophage, which literally translates from Greek as time eater. Have a look at your app for a close-up of its terrifying face. It actually bites down on the seconds as they pass, occasionally blinking in grim satisfaction. Underneath, an eerie grinding noise plays, and the hour is marked by a chain clanking into a hidden wooden coffin.
Notice how it does not tick perfectly. The pendulum catches, lags, and suddenly races ahead. This is completely intentional. Taylor engineered the erratic movement to reflect life's irregularity. His message is starkly unsentimental. He designed it to be terrifying because, in his words, time is not on your side, and as soon as one minute is gone, the beast is salivating for the next. The golden ripples on the clock face were even formed using underwater explosives, symbolizing the chaotic birth of time itself at the Big Bang.
Despite its horror, the students affectionately call the beast Hopsy. It is hypnotically beautiful, deeply disturbing, and undeniably brilliant. Now, from this strange modern mechanism, we are going to walk to an infamous wooden one. Our next stop is the Mathematical Bridge, just a seven-minute walk away. Oh, and since the clock sits right here on the street, you can come back to watch the beast feast twenty four hours a day.
