Naval Arsenal Clock Tower

This 10-meter clock tower was built in 1921 to coordinate production schedules at the Kure Naval Arsenal, one of the first large-scale military production sites in Japan. Each of its four faces has a dial 1.5 meters in diameter, and the internal mechanism is made of naval brass, an alloy developed for seawater resistance. It is the first electromechanical master-slave impulse clock built in Japan, with a central unit sending simultaneous electrical signals to all four dials. After World War II, the clock was moved to the Irifuneyama Memorial Museum. It was repaired and designated a Tangible Cultural Property in 1981, and now chimes four times a day with a melody written by local school students.