On the first day of this fourth week of this new full-time job, I knew it was time to take a lunchtime shot of the clocks that I pass while walking during my 60-minute break.
The Key Bank branch on Warren Street in downtown Syracuse, N.Y.
At the corner of Warren and East Washington streets, just a block from Hanover Square, the Key Bank branch has nicely restored its timepiece.
Yes, you are right. For arriving at work at 8:30 a.m., I take a late lunch. These shots came after I ate my cheese omelet and wheat toast, the Monday special at Nick’s Place.
The Syracuse Media Group in the Merchants Commons building.
Across the street and a half-block south on Warren is the clock just refurbished last week by Syracuse Media Group, which sits in the Merchants Commons building. The handsome timekeeper is labeled syracuse.com, the website of SMG, which also publishes The Post-Standard newspaper, for which I worked for 29 years.
The AXA Tower on Warren, near the Onondaga War Memorial and Civic Center.
Three more blocks south on Warren, you must look high to see the digital electronic clock on the top of the AXA Tower.
This is a landmark of downtown Syracuse, commonly known as the MONY Tower before Mutual of New York was acquired in, well, one of those name-changing alterations that never quite settle well with me in the business world.
You can see the time and temperature from miles away, given the right vantage point.
The first morning on this job when I walked out of the parking garage with my dear wife Karen, who works similar hours at SMG, I noticed that the AXA Tower clock is set some eight minutes faster than real time. With burned-out bulbs, though, the 20s, 30s, and 40s in the minutes column all look mighty similar.
The old Syracuse Savings building at Clinton Square.
And here is the stately old clock that graces the building that houses the bank that used to be called Syracuse Savings Bank, right across Salina Street from Clinton Square, and flanking Hanover Square, too.
Is it not beautiful? (For the life of me, I can’t tell you the name of the new bank that’s there now.)
I admired this clock tower every day of the 29 years that I worked for The Post-Standard. The newsroom was in the big building kitty-corner on Clinton Square. The printing press and some staff is still there, but most SMG personnel work in the Merchants Commons building.
I don’t much mind that the clock on that stately building is only right twice a day.
What’s your favorite style of outdoor clock, and why? Does your hometown have many different types of outdoor clocks, and are they attached to local companies? Do all the outdoor clocks where you live seem to be synched to keep the same time, and would it drive you nuts enough to fight city hall if they didn’t?
Mark Bialczak 
Mark – Do you know how old the Syracuse State Bank building is? (yes, I’m really behind reading posts)
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My dear wife Karen just Googled it for you Cat, and it was built in 1875. Wow. Even I am impressed at that answer. And by the way, I feel badly because I am behind reading your blog, too.
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Don’t worry about it – new routines take (quite) awhile to get under control
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Yes, I am finding that out, Cat. Thanks for being patient.
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I was wondering if your blog is related to old English or Latin story related in time!
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Just today’s English, sir.
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This was hilarious, Mark! I guess this post really says a lot about towns and cities who don’t get all the inner workings of their clocks going at the same time! What a great idea for a title, too! I think your lunch special sounded quite delicious, too.
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Yes, I like that you noticed I thought lunch time was OK for breakfast, Robin! Thank you for that. 🙂
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Thanks for the walking lunch, Chum. Wow. Four weeks already…?
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Time flies. Somebody had to say it on this post, Aud. Thanks for giving me the pitch down the middle, my friend!
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Hahaha. I’m always here for you, Chum.
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Those are so cool! I especially love the one at the old Syracuse Savings building! We used to have a travel agency that was here for decades that had clocks from several time zones, that said Local, London, Honolulu, etc under each clock, which I always loved. 🙂
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Yes, I like the around-the-world time approach, too, Rachel. Good call on that one! 🙂
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Thanks! 🙂
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I love that old clock. And none of the clocks I see in our town have the same time. So I pay attention to the one I need to say the time I need at that time that I need it. 🙂
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That’s the way to do it. Clock by choice. Time by need! You are so smart, Colleen. 🙂
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Shhhhhh, that is not widely known Mark. 😉 But thank you!
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The clock looks like it has eyes above it.
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Neat post Mark, great pictures and great idea. Here in Ottawa we have a fabulous clock in the Peace tower at the center of our Parliment Buildings. Here’s the live Gov’t feed http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/collineduparlement-parliamenthill/camera-eng.html and the details by Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Tower There are a number of other neat clocks around town too.
Personally my pet clock peeve is in dialysis. There are about 5 wall clocks in the unit and none read the same. There are 33 dialysis machines in the unit that are networked to the central computer so the run data (pump speed , pressures, times, presets, blood pressure [every 30 minutes], nurse notes, etc) is automatically recorded with a time stamp – and every single one of them shows a different time. It is incredible – networked machines that read different times. Gads, it drives me nuts.
Anyway, great post Mark. Thank You
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I do love your Hill Cam clock in your capital town, there Paul. Thanks for the link. Nice looking for sure.
The non-synching of the medical room clocks on network just plain burns me up. That drives me nuts, too, Paul. Doesn’t give you a lot of faith in the whole dialysis system. It doesn’t give me a lot of faith in it, anyway, I should say. I hope you are well, my friend. Love your Sunday guest posts on Willow’s blog.
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Thanks Mark. I am so pleased you enjoy the posts. The dialysis clock thing drives me even more nuts for exactly the reason you pointed out – they are very profeesional and wonderful there and the clocks are so anti-professional. the worst is that those macjines are designed to be networked and I’m sur ethey have a time check buiot in thatnmust be turned off for some reason.
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I thought this was going to about daylight savings time.
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No. Just a clock post, my friend. 🙂
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A timely piece, Mark, with wonderful photos. The first thing that caught my eye was your photo of Key Bank. That bank is where I had my first job, when it was First Trust & Deposit Co., after I graduated from Central City Business Institute. It’s a beautiful old bank as are the others pictured here.
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The old buildings keep well in these blocks, Judy. Wow, that is some history of Judy Manzer, from graduate to first bank job! Thanks for sharing.
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Well, I wouldn’t want you to think I was there when the first brick was poured. 😉
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Not even the first restoration, Judy. Or second! 🙂
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😉
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Fourth week already! Where does time go is what I would like to know. Anyway, my favourite clock is in Nottingham’s Victoria Centre. I loved watching this clock when I was a child. I’ve sent you a link – keep with it and you will see what I thought was magical. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqDhkI5fKPw
love the phrase ‘kitty- corner’
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That is the wettest, wildest, most magical clock ever. And the Tintintinabitical name. I know I slaughteried it. Emmet is easier. Thanks, Rachel! Yes, isn’t that a great phrase. Much more fun than kind-of-next-door and kind-of-across-the-street.
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I’m glad you like it!
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The town I work in was founded in the 1600’s so I love walking on their main street and looking at all the old architecture They also have a few old clocks. They don’t make em like they used too!
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That’s very cool, UpMom. Living history. You are fortunate to be able to see it in your hometown, my friend.
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What a neat idea to feature the outdoor clocks in your lunch break vicinity! They are all so different. It is a good thing you have your own clock/watch to rely on since these are not exactly the most reliable. 🙂
I love to see the old buildings in cities that house these clocks. You are right in that they are usually bank buildings. There have been so many mergers in the past year that it’s no wonder you don’t know the current names of the banks. I was an inside “victim” of many bank mergers during my banking career. 🙂
I am glad you are enjoying your much needed lunch hour after the intensity of the days you spoke of. Your brain I am sure, appreciates it as well. 🙂
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Ouch. Sorry to hear you were crunched by the bank mergers, Mrs. B. That stinks.
Yes, I bank on eating, walking, relaxing, breathing deep. It’s my getaway hour.
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Great photos, Mark. You know, I haven’t noticed many clocks in downtown Richmond. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them. Currently obsessed with all the murals and street art downtown instead.
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That’s a healthy obsession, Barbara! I should take some Syracuse mural shots, too. Thanks for the nudge in that direction. 🙂
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No, you should take pictures and send them to me to round out my future mural post. LOL! Just kidding, looking forward to what you come up with.
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I’ve never really looked for clocks outside Mark, but I believe the old City Hall building has a clock tower and there are many digital clocks that also tell the temperature and also have burnt out lights!
Here’s wishing you a very excellent first day of the fourth week, second day of the fourth week and so on…! 😀
Diana xo
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The burned out bulbs are kind of lame, Diana, although I do appreciate the difficulty of changing the ones on this tower here in Syracuse. 🙂 Thanks for your numeric well-wishes to make up for those incomplete numbers …
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we have a few downtown and they are never quite in synch and i like that each of them are a bit different. gives them character. it doesn’t bother me at all. t never really use them as timekeepers anyway, more to get a handle on what part of the day it is, especially during summer. i always amused by their differences and they harken back to the days with the town square and the clock tower that was the center of everything, p.s. nice buildings, nice shots, mark.
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I like that you can use them as a generality and not a specific second-signal, Beth. Much more relaxing that way! That was something, I bet, when they were the center of living back then in Ann Arbor. I’m glad you liked my Syracuse shots.
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No wonder I’m always late for work … Maybe it’s time for these businesses to synchronize their watches!
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The two new ones, Key Bank and SMG, were fairly synched, but not AXA, and the old SSB was, well, gone gone gone, Jim. I find myself spoiled by the satellite precision of clocks you never have to set anymore on the phone and cable box and stuff. You know?
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“If you build it…they will come” (Jay Catalano…Northern Pines on Tuesday nights)
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Time out on that comment, DJ. Have a great round tonight. I miss it!
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