It tells the time, as it did at East Cowes Castle in the 19th century. but it's now in a museum because country residences became difficult to maintain in the 20th century

It was intended to impress. The fact that it 's now in a museum reminds us that impressive country residences bacame difficult to maintain in the 20th century.

It was rescued, preserved and restored because it was an interesting example of the clockmaker's skill. Originally the clock movement was hidden from view, and it was the clock face that people looked at. Now that the clock is a museum exhibit, it's the movement that people want to look at, so it's displayed at eye-level.

There are two sides to the clock movement - the 'watch' controlling the hands on the clock face and the 'strike' controlling the striking mechanism. The power source for each is a lead weight which turns a drum.

Because the clock was originally in a high, the weights had a long enough drop to keep it in motion for eight days. Someone at East Cowes Castle would have wound it once a week. Now the drop is only a metre so each winding lasts only about 20 hours.