Where's Marty? The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Hi everyone!
On Monday, we kicked off WJZ at 9 with a segment about the most visible timepiece throughout the Baltimore area. That's right--we went inside the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower clock.
For those who aren't familiar, this tower is the largest four-faced gravity clock in the world. By the request of Bromo Seltzer's owner, the clock is larger than even London's iconic Big Ben.
So, what's a gravity clock, you might ask? A balanced weight, once raised by a small electric motor returns to the bottom of the apparatus. As it lowers, a connecting wire moves a large pendulum.
The clock's swing lasts exactly two seconds in each direction, and a series of moving gears makes the clock run.
Originally built in 1911, the clock was recently refurbished in 2017.
Like the old hands, the new hands are made of treated wood. And if you look closely there are no numbers but rather the 12 letters of the worlds, "Bromo Seltzer."
New LED lighting behind each face illuminates the clock tower at night. The standard color scheme is Bromo Seltzer bottle blue, though other colors are used, such as purple when the Ravens win.
Currently, the tower is lit up in blue and yellow in honor of the people of Ukraine.
Keeping with our theme of time, we asked several Baltimoreans whether they own a wrist watch and if they use it to tell time. Here's what they had to say:
That will do it for this edition of Where's Marty? Time marches on, even for time itself.
- Marty B