It was on December 14, 1998 when the tower clock started ticking once again after almost a century at St. Thomas Cathedral in Mumbai. Mohammad Ibrahim Damani, the man behind the magical renovation worked on the machine for 19 months, without a break to bring this old piece of art back to life.
32 years ago, when 72-year-old Damani left his job from Eastern Watch Company to start his own business, he came across the old St. Thomas Cathedral tower clock and asked the priest in-charge whether he could allow him to repair the clock. But, the priest sent him away saying - “Even the Britishers could not repair the clock, how would you?”
Dejected and disappointed by the response to his request, when he was leaving the premises, he made a promise to Allah that he would one day give this tower clock a new lease of life. After working for about 15 years in Kuwait, Damani returned to erstwhile Bombay. When he crossed the old church’s path, he was surprised to see the clock still non-functional. He gave it another shot and this time, a young priest who was in charge of the church, approved his request and Damani initiated the repair.
It took 1 year and 7 months for Damani to renovate the structure, which was covered with a 3 to 4 ft tall pile of pigeon droppings. Many parts were missing and damaged but his willpower did not deteriorate and he made good on the promise he made to himself 15 years ago. In 2014, Mumbai Port Trust decided to renovate the age old Sassoon Dock but could not find a suitable person to revive the John Bennett clock machine, which was dead and abandoned for about half a century.
According to Damani, 42 vital parts of the clock were missing including clock weights weighing to a sum of 500 kg. The contract was given to Damani and he did the job in around a year and the dock was inaugurated at the end of the year 2015. Watch the fascinating story of Damani, one of the last vintage tower clock experts in the city of Mumbai.
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