BUCHERER "AION" ROLLING
BALL CLOCK
Watch Store Keeping World Record Time in Lucerne
It
takes a lot of balls to build the world’s largest ball clock.
Okay, I couldn’t resist. A prominent feature of a visit to the
beautiful central Switzerland city of Lucerne is the original main store
of the Bucherer brand of Swiss watch-maker, recognized as one of the
world’s leading brands of fine watches. Carl F. Bucherer began
making watches in 1888 in another small shop in the old town. By the
turn of the century, Lucerne had become a popular international vacation
destination. Visitors traveled from all over the world to the lakeside
city to experience the special beauty of Lucerne and its innovative
attractions (see Bourbaki
Panorama). Carl F. Bucherer and his sons opened
the main store in 1920 to take advantage of the growing 
tourist
traffic and the exclusive Belle Epoch hotels which lined its lake shore
near
the grand casino. Even today the street can get filled at rush hour with
tour busses stopping the tight parking zone in front, marring a bit the
beauty of the historic store. Bucherer watches and jewelers now have
elegant stores in upscale shopping districts throughout in Switzerland
and Germany,
from the narrow lanes of exclusive Zermatt to Unter den Linden in Berlin,
selling their own as well as other brands of high quality Swiss made
time pieces and jewelry. Certainly not the oldest of Swiss watchmakers
(see Patek
Philippe Museum Geneva) or as famous as Rolex, Bucherer
is one of the iconic names in Switzerland's best known industry (see Watchmaking
Museum La Chaux-de-Fonds).
The
Bucherer flagship store on Lucerne's Schwanenplatz, directly across
from the
lake at
the end of the main road bridge where it intersects
the symbolic wooden Chapel Bridge that identifies Lucerne, needed a refurbishment
in 2006 and plans were developed to create a signature time piece for
the store, a giant rolling ball clock sculpture. Named “Aion”,
taken from the ancient Greek meaning the infinity of time, the unique
clock was built by a team of engineers led by Hanns-Martin Wagner from
Switzerland and Mark Bischof from the Netherlands. Completed in 2008
the Aion Rolling Ball Clock was officially designated as the world’s
largest of its kind by Guiness Book of World Records. Standing 38 feet
high and
about 20 feet wide, rising though all four floors of the store, the clock's “balls’ are
actually glass marbles, which tumble and run down a shining transparent
maze, ticking the seconds as they roll, collecting at the gear wheel
at one-a-minute until 60 turn the mechanism to the next hour. 
Run
by only the kinetic energy of the marbles, the clock is a complex mechanism
of precision. A "waterfall" of marbles begins at the top, counting
the seconds. The balls race through a spiraling curtain into the clock
where they run at high speed on a wire track. A giant crystal ball at
the bottom of the clock oscillates every quarter hour, and the hands
move on the giant time face, behind the glass wall. The clock is unavoidable
at the center of the store, riding the escalator from floor to floor
with a different features visible on each level. No admission or watch
purchase is required to view the clock, but they're hoping maybe you
can't resist. For more Bucherer watch making history they also have a
small
museum at the company's production facility in Lengnau, near Biel. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Bucherer
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SEE ALSO:
WALDSTATTERHOF - LAKE LUCERNE HOTELS
HOTEL PILATUS KULM - MT PILATUS
SWISS MUSEUM OF TRANSPORT LUCERNE
