London’s Iconic Big Ben is Running Mysteriously Fast

Big Ben keepers admit the clock has been running fast and has become ‘a little temperamental’ at the age of 156.

The Big Ben clocktower seen early morning in central London (Photo: Reuters)

The bongs of London’s Big Ben have been running mysteriously fast, clocksmiths have admitted.

The Great Clock that towers over the British Parliament can be out by up to 6 seconds, says ABC. Its keepers admitted that the Big Ben has become ‘a little temperamental’ at the age of 156.

Over the past two weeks, the early bongs have messed up BBC domestic and world radio transmissions that broadcast the hour chimes live.

This has even shocked the Houses of Parliament which had three dedicated clocksmiths trying to rectify the problem.

The error started building up and went slightly unnoticed over a weekend. We don’t know why it happened. You’re talking about a 156-year-old clock; it does have a little fit every now and then. Imagine running your car for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for the last 156 years.
–Ian Westworth, clocksmith to BBC Radio

Clocksmiths regulate the mechanism by stacking heavy old one penny coins on the pendulum, or removing them.

You can’t just wind the hands forward. You have to make a very gradual change by adding coins to speed the clock up or taking weight off to slow it back down again. We have been up there most days just getting it right. Traditionally we have to go up 3 times a week to wind the clock. We phone up the speaking clock and at 5 minutes to the hour, start a stopwatch, go up to the belfry, stand by the bell and the hammer. As it strikes the bell we’ll stop the stopwatch. We can tell if it’s going slightly fast or slow.
–Ian Westworth, clocksmith to BBC Radio

Initial attempts by the team to correct the mechanism made the clock run slow.

The 13.7-tonne bell, with its distinctive bongs, sounds out the hours across central London, while different chimes mark every quarter hour.