Jessop's Clock facts for kids
Jessop's Clock is a huge outdoor pendulum clock in San Diego, California, USA. A famous jeweler named Joseph Jessop asked for it to be built in 1905.
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A San Diego Landmark: Jessop's Clock History
Jessop's Clock has been a special symbol of San Diego for over 100 years! It's even listed as historic landmark #372 in the city. For most of the 1900s, it stood outside the Jessop and Sons jewelry store in Downtown San Diego. Then, in 1984, it moved to Horton Plaza, a big shopping center downtown.
What Makes Jessop's Clock Special?
This amazing clock does more than just tell time! It shows the local time in hours, minutes, and seconds. It also tells you the day of the week and the month. In total, it has 21 dials! Twelve of these dials show the time in different cities all over the world.
The clock is super tall, about 22 feet (6.7 m) high. But that's not all! Another 12 feet (3.7 m) of the clock's parts are hidden underground. An electric motor winds the clock automatically every eight hours to keep it running.
Who Built Jessop's Clock?
An employee from Jessop's jewelry store, Claude D. Ledger, was chosen to build this incredible clock. He worked on it for 15 months! The clock was finished in 1907 and even won a gold medal at the Sacramento State Fair that year.
After the fair, the clock was placed outside the J. Jessop and Sons jewelry store. In 1927, the store moved, and the clock moved with it. There's a cool story that the clock stopped working on the very day Claude Ledger passed away. No one knows why, but it was restarted and kept ticking!
Recent Adventures of the Clock
In April 2009, Jessop's Clock stopped again. A few months later, the Jessop family, who still own the clock, paid to have it cleaned and fixed. On November 5, 2009, Joseph Jessop's 98-year-old great-grandson, David Jessop Jr., officially restarted the 102-year-old clock!
In 2012, the Horton Plaza shopping center decided they no longer wanted the clock there. The Jessop family had six months to find a new home for it. Jim Jessop, a family representative, asked the public for ideas. They wanted a place where everyone could see it, maybe even indoors. The new spot also needed 12 feet of space underground for the clock's hidden parts.
They almost moved it to the San Diego Zoo! But in 2013, that plan didn't work out. It was too difficult to get the city permits needed for such a historic clock at the Zoo.
In April 2019, Jessop's Clock was carefully taken apart. It's now in storage, waiting for a new, permanent home to be found.
