News When conductor Riccardo Muti raised his baton on 7 December last year at the re-opening of the Milan Scala, IWC was not in attendance for nothing: the manufactory from Schaffhouse had indeed supervised technical repairs to the clock that graces this mythical concert hall, its complete renovation being assigned to a Milanese workshop.
Overhanging the centre of the stage, the great digital clock of la Scala is a rare model. It indicates the hours in Roman numerals in one aperture and the minutes in Arabic numerals in another. Damaged by lightning, it required complex repairs. To restore it to a condition worthy of the premises in which it is installed, IWC Schaffhouse took the initiative of overseeing a major work of restoration.
Watchmakers meticulously dismantled the clock to remove it from its housing, gave it a new frame and a new coil, repaired the pivots and bearings and replaced the old electro-mechanical control with a new electronic one. A veritable new lease of life for this masterpiece which dates back more than a hundred years and which, following a bombardment in 1944, had been provided with an electrical impulse.
To return the clock to its original position, it was necessary to knock down two separating walls and rebuild them after its installation. According to Georges Kern, the CEO of IWC, there can be no doubt that the effort was worth the trouble: "For spectators, it is always exciting to check, simply by glancing at the stage clock, if the maestro is on time and if performance times indicated by the composer are being observed."
Complete renovation of the Milan Scala cost 55 million euros and it was Ticino based architect Mario Botta who had the honour of restoring it to what it was 220 years ago: the world’s most modern theatre. The on-site team worked night and day to ensure that the famous Italian theatre could open its doors on time for the start of the season on 7 December, the day of Saint-Ambroise, the city’s patron saint.
January 06, 2005
