To keep track of the timing of the trams, Bundy time-recorders were set up all along the tramlines – these were smaller clocks found inside tram depots that recorded when a tram was on the move. Conductors would leave the car, open the box under the dial and then insert a key which would make a bell ring. It would then mark the number of the tram and send it off to the head office as proof of the schedule running on time.
The large Tramways Clock was a joint gift from the Municipal Electricity Department and the Tramways Department, and was connected to these Bundy time-recorders, and used by conductors to keep their trams on time when they were on route.
Initially, this clock was found on the corner of Manners Street and Dixon Street in what we know now as Te Aro Park and was visible to people on Cuba Street or down the far end of Courtenay Place.
It was painted green and had two large opal plate-glass faces and illuminated at night so Wellingtonians coming out of the nearby theatres would be able to see the time.
The clock itself was also run by electricity and the electric clock motors were controlled by a master clock at Mangahao Hydro-Electric Power Station. This station opened in 1924 and was the latest and greatest thing in the city as the mechanism was advanced for the time.