Speaking clock

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. The format of the service is similar to that of radio time signal services. At set intervals (e.g. ten seconds) a voice announces (for example) "At the third stroke, the time will be twelve forty-six and ten seconds……", with three beeps following. Some countries have sponsored time announcements and include the sponsor's name in the message.

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Australia In Australia, the last number for the speaking clock, in all areas, was the number 1194. The service was started in 1953 by the Post Master General's Department. Originally,callers would dial "B074" to access the talking clock on a rotary phone; during the transition from a rotary dial to a DTMF based phone system, the talking clock number changed from "B074" to 1194. The system always provided the current time where the call originated, in part due to Telstra's special call routing systems. Landline, payphone and mobile customers who called 1194 would receive the time. A male voice, often known by Australians as "George", would say "At the third stroke, it will be (hours) (minutes) and (seconds) seconds/precisely. (three beeps)" e.g. "At the third stroke, it will be three thirty three and forty seconds". The time announcement was announced in 10 second increments and the beep was 1 kHz.

Prior to automatic systems, the subscriber rang an operator who would quote the time from a central clock in the exchange with a phrase such as "The time by the exchange clock is ……". This was not precise and the operator could not always answer when the subscriber wanted. In 1954, British-made systems were installed in Melbourne (1st floor, City West Exchange) and Sydney. The mechanical speaking clock used rotating glass discs upon which different parts of the time were recorded. A synchronous motor drove the disc, with the driving source derived from a 5 MHz quartz oscillator via a multi stage valve divider. This was amplified to give sufficient impetus to drive the motor. Because of the low torque available, a hand wheel was used to spin the motor on start up. The voice for the original Australian speaking clock was provided by Gordon Gow. The units were designed for continuous operation. Both units in Melbourne and Sydney were run in tandem (primary and backup). For daylight saving time changes, one would be on line while the second was advanced or delayed by one hour and at the 02:00:00 Australian Eastern Standard time, would be switched over to the standby unit. 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 that shine through a lens arrangement and the glass recording disk, and finally into the optical pickups that convert the interrupted beam intensity into an electrical signal, and ultimately an audible voice. 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. Each state capital had a digital speaking clock for the local time of day with one access number for all Australia, 1194. In 2002 the Telstra 1194 service was migrated to Informatel (which uses its own digital technology, in conjunction with the National Measurement Institute — but kept the original voice of Richard Peach), whilst the other time services (e.g. hourly pips to radio stations) were retained as a service by Telstra. In May 2006 the remaining Telstra services were withdrawn and the digital hardware was decommissioned. Telstra ended the 1194 service on the midnight of October 1, 2019 and Australians no longer have access to this service. A web-based simulation of the 1194 service was created by musician Ryan Monro on the day of the original service's shutdown. In 2024, the National Communication Museum opened in Melbourne. There is a restored 1954 speaking clock on display, featuring the original voice of Gordon Gow. There is also an Assman Speaking Clock from 1990 on display.

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