Thirteen O'clock

Here is an unusual clock on the tower at the St Mary Magdalen Church, Whitgift, East Riding, England. The clock dial shows XIII instead of XII.

Image from Geograph.org.uk is by David Wright

Clock face after recent restoration.

Image from Geograph.org.uk is by George Robinson


Image from Panoramio is by bitofluff
(Click on the image to see clock face in the enlarged image.)

The church is about 800 year old and the clock was installed in 1919 to mark the end of WW-1 (IN TERRA PAX - Peace on Earth). No one is sure about the reason for discrepancy in the clock numeral. There are many theories;

Some say that the painter may have been tipsy and made the mistake. Other say that original XII may have been out of alignment with the needle so one "I" may have been painted out with base colour (black) and a new "I" added. In due course the black paint got washed and third "I" also became visible.

Whatever the reason the church authorities had decided to let the discrepancy remain with the result that the clock is now perhaps unique.

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Source of info: Wikipedia

Credits: Thanks to wtwjgc who brought this to my knowledge through this post.