Fighting Time - The Jousting Knights of the Birks Clock
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at 11:23PM 
Graham Crawford interviews Therese Charbonneau, Senior Conservator for the City of Hamilton.
Sometimes, things do just what they were designed to do. Toasters toast bread. Traffic lights control traffic. Washing machines clean clothes. But sometimes, even while things are doing what they were designed to do, they take on a broader meaning in our lives. A cast iron fence becomes a piece of history, or art, or both. A neon sign, like the Pagoda's at John and King streets, becomes so much more than a slightly kitsch approximation of something meant to suggest 'foreign'. Sometimes, those things become part of who we are. Part of how we define ourselves. Part of our culture.
The Birks Clock is one of those things. It was designed to tell time, but not in any ordinary way.
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Reader Comments (5)
Thanks for this, Graham, and for bringing Hamilton's history - good and bad - to the forefront. I had not been aware of the detail on the clock and will now see it with new and more informed eyes when it reappears. We will also appreciate it so much more. As low-tech PC people, we will visit H+H to see what we couldn't see in your interview. best wishes...
do you mean Therese Charbonneau?
I remember going to an event at Whitehern with Therese and my friend and i were the only 2 people there
Fantastic Graham...I’ve lived in Hamilton for most of my life and this is the first time I’ve heard the clock’s history to this level of detail. Great website and even better storefront!
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