Royal Family’s 1,600 clocks had to be manually changed – including Henry VIII wedding gift

Three horological conservators worked through the weekend to manually change more than 1,600 timepieces in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and royal palaces

For most of us, the trickiest part of the clocks changing is simply remembering how to reset the time on the oven clock — so spare a thought for three individuals employed by the Royal Family, who have spent this weekend manually adjusting more than 1,600 timepieces.

The clocks sprang forward by one hour overnight at 1am on Sunday to signal the beginning of British Summer Time (BST). A trio of horological conservators have been working throughout the weekend to update the timepieces housed within the Royal Collection for King Charles and the rest of the family.

These include 450 at Windsor Castle, 350 at Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace in London, and 50 at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

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The Royal Collection Trust noted that the timepieces within the collection rank amongst the finest and most historically significant items held at the palaces.

Among them are musical clocks, astronomical clocks and miniature clocks. The oldest piece in the collection is the Anne Boleyn Clock, which is believed to have been presented by Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn on the morning of their wedding in 1532.

The collection also features Queen Charlotte’s watch, the first ever to incorporate a lever escapement and widely regarded as a forerunner of the modern wrist and pocket watch. At 1am on March 30, the clocks sprang forward by one hour, and they will turn back by one hour at 2am on October 25, reports MyLondon.