Speaking Clock
Tarsha Crouchet
A speaking clock or talking clock is a live or recorded human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory, on 14 February 1933.[1]
In addition to the speaking clocks, there was ancillary equipment to provide timing signals, 1 pulse per second, 8 pulses per minute and 8 pulses per hour. The Time and Frequency Standards Section in the PMG Research Laboratories at 59 Little Collins Street, Melbourne maintained the frequency checks to ensure that the system was "on time". From a maintenance point of view, the most important part of the mechanical clocks was to ensure that they were well oiled to minimise wear on the cams and to replace blown bulbs in the optical pickups from the glass disk recordings. When Time & Frequency Standards moved from 59 Collins Street to Clayton Research Labs (3rd Flr. Building M5), the control signals were duplicated and a second bank of Caesium Beam Primary standards installed so the cutover was transparent with no loss of service.
This mechanical system was replaced with a digital system in 1990. Each speaking clock ensemble consisted of two announcing units (Zag 500), a supervisory unit (CCU 500), two phase-locked oscillators, two pulse distribution units, a Civil Time Receiver (plus a spare), and two or four Computime 1200 baud modems. The voice was provided by Richard Peach, a former ABC broadcaster. The various components were sent for commercial production after a working prototype was built in the Telstra Research Laboratory (TRL). Assmann Australia used a German announcing unit and built a supervisory unit to TRL specifications. Design 2000 incorporated TRL oscillators in the phase locked oscillator units designed at TRL and controlled by two tone from the Telstra Caesium beam frequency standards. Ged Company built civil time receivers. The civil time code generators and two tone generators were designed and built within TRL. The changeover occurred at 12 noon, September 12, 1990.
In Austria, the speaking clock ("Zeitansage", which literally means "time announcement") can be reached at 0810 00 1503 since 2009. A recorded female voice says: "Es wird mit dem Summerton 15 Uhr, 53 Minuten und 10 Sekunden", meaning "At the buzzing tone, the time will be 15 hours, 53 minutes and 10 seconds", followed by a short pause and a 1 kHz, 0.25 seconds long beep (even though the announcement "buzzing tone" suggests otherwise). The time is announced in 10 second intervals using the voice of radio host Angelika Lang.
Before 2009, the speaking clock was available at local call rates by dialing 1503. Until then, the voice was generated by an Assmann ZAG500 time announcement device. The announcements were voiced by former switchboard operator Renate Fuczik.[7]
In Belgium, the speaking clock used to be reachable on the numbers 1200 (Dutch language), 1300 (French language), and 1400 (German language). Starting September 2012, the service is only reachable on the numbers +32 78 05 12 00 (Dutch Language), +32 78 05 13 00 (French language) and +32 78 05 14 00 (German language). At the time of the number change, the service received 5,000 calls per day.[8] The signal for the speaking clock came directly from the time service of the Royal Observatory of Belgium. First it came from a Zeiss clock, later from an atomic clock.
Dialling 117 in any city connects to a speaking clock that tells the current time in China. Currently 12117.[9] Despite China spanning five time zones, only one time is kept over the country, therefore only one zone related service is required and the same time would be announced regardless of where the call was made. Rates are charged according to the ordinary local number, generally around 0.25 RMB/minute.[10]
In Finland the speaking clock service is known as Neiti Aika in Finnish or Fröken Tid in Swedish, both of which mean "Miss Time". The first Neiti Aika service was started in 1936 and was the first automated phone service in Finland.[11] The service is provided by regional phone companies and can be reached by dialling 10061 from any part of the country. The voice of the speaking clock is male or female depending on the phone company service.[12] Nowadays[when?] the use of the Neiti Aika service has decreased significantly, and the press officer of Auria, the regional phone company of Turku, stated in an article of the Turun Sanomat newspaper that when the company started the service in 1938 it was used 352,310 times in its starting year, compared to 1,300 times in September 2006.[13]
In France, the speaking clock (horloge parlante) was launched on 14 February 1933 and was the first service of its kind worldwide.[1][14] It is available by dialing 3699 from within France, and was formerly available from overseas by dialing +33 8.36.99. - - . - - (where the - - could be any number). However, since September 2011, calls placed from outside France only work from some countries and networks. In May 2022, French telecom company Orange announced that the service will be discontinued on 1 July 2022, due to the "steady and significant decrease" of calls.[15]
In Italy, the number of the speaking clock ("il numero dell'ora esatta", "the exact time number") was originally 16, the time was given by a recorded female voice. In the mid-seventies, 16 was replaced by 161. Presently, the number to be dialled is 4261.
In 1934, electronic engineer and inventor F.H. Leeuwrik built a speaking clock for the municipal telephone service of The Hague using optically recorded speech, looping on a large drum. The female voice was provided by the then 24-year-old school teacher Cor Hoogendam, hence the machine was nicknamed Tante Cor (Aunt Cor).[23]
In April 1992, the machinery was replaced by a digital device with no moving parts. The voice was provided by actress Joke Driessen and the clock's accuracy is maintained by linking it to the German longwave radio transmitter DCF77. To comply with international guidelines limiting double-zero to use as an international prefix, the 002 number was changed on 3 December 1990[24] to 06-8002, and later to 0900-8002. The service still receives approximately four million calls a year.[25]
The speaking clock in New Zealand is run by the Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand. The service is reached by dialling 0800 MSLTIME (0800 675846).[26] MSL has been running the service since 1989.
The speaking clock in Poland is known as Zegarynka which means the clock girl. The service became first available in 1936, using a device invented and patented in Poland.[citation needed] It was speaking with the recorded voice of actress Lidia Wysocka. The first cities to be equipped with this device were Katowice, Warszawa (dialing number 05[27]), Gdynia, Toruń and Kraków (July 1936[28]).
In 1935, Soviet Central Scientific Research Institute of Communications received a government order to design the "Speaking Clock" for Moscow City Telephone Network.[29][30] "Speaking Clock" was constructed based on cinematic techniques[30] and consists of discs with pulse-density modulation optical marks on photographic tapes, photocell with actuator, and audio tube amplifier.[31] On May 14, 1937 "speaking clock" connected to Moscow City Telephone Network for test operation and it was reachable on the numbers Russian: "Г 1-98-48" and Russian: "Г 1-98-49".[29][30][31] It was speaking with the recorded voice of Soviet actor and broadcaster Emmanuil Tobiash.[29][30][31] In 1937, the first cities to be equipped with this devices were Moscow and Leningrad.[32]
The speaking clock in Sweden is run by Telia and can be reached by calling 90 510 from landline phones or 08-90 510 from mobile phones. The service is called Fröken Ur which means Miss Clock. It has been in use since 1934. Various voices have stated the time. Since 2000 the voice which states the time belongs to Johanna Hermann Lundberg. In 1977 the speaking clock in Sweden received 64 000 000 calls - which is the record for a year. In 2020 the number of calls was about 2 000 per day, meaning a total of a bit less than 1 000 000 calls annually.[citation needed]
The speaking clock in South Africa is run by Telkom, the country's national telecommunications provider, and can be reached by dialling 1026 either from a fixed line or a cellular phone. The time is announced every 10 seconds and alternates between English and Afrikaans languages. An example of an English announcement of the time would be: "When you hear the signal, it will be four hours, fifteen minutes and ten seconds", followed by a short audible tone to signal the exact time previously announced. The voice of the announcements is that of broadcaster and voiceover artist Helen Naudé. Recorded in 1989, the same speaking clock announcements with Naudé's voice are still in use to the present day. Naudé also provided her voice talent to other Telkom services, such as 1023 directory enquiries, as well as the pre-recorded message "The subscriber you have dialled does not exist", which can be heard when dialling an invalid phone number.[36][37]
For times that are an exact minute, "precisely" is substituted for the seconds portion of the announcement. Similarly, announcements for times between the hour and one minute past the hour substitute "o'clock" for the (zero) minutes. Other operators run their own speaking clocks, with broadly similar formats, or redirect to BT's service. Virgin Media have their own service available by dialling 123 from a Virgin Media line.[40] Sky also have their own service accessible by dialling 123 from a Sky telephone line. Dialling 123 from a few mobile services, such as O2, also obtains a speaking clock service. The Giffgaff network uses the same service as O2. The service is not available on the 3 mobile telephone network, as they use 123 as the number for their voicemail services. It was also unavailable on the Orange network for the same reason.
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