Mudd's Clocks: An Unexpurgated History...

Image of a clock in Mudd According to campus electrician Mike Karney, Mudd's original clocks were "analog digital" and used mechanically-flipped numerical cards to show the time. These clocks were notoriously unreliable and were replaced in the early '80s with the custom-made analog clocks currently in place. The hands advance in one-minute increments (the familiar "chunk" sound) when they, and all other campus clocks on this circuit, receive the low-voltage electrical pulse initiated by the campus master clock located in the Service Building. Each hour, "recalibration pulses" are sent out by the master clock, a very accurate quartz-crystal clock, which attempts to ensure all campus clocks on the system are showing the same time.

An upgraded master clock now sends the hourly recalibration impulses at a much slower rate that it did in the past. This improves the response of all networked clocks, making them more accurate.

The Mudd clocks, being electromechanical, have moving parts that eventually wear out; the electricians are able to fix most of them. When clocks elsewhere on campus are beyond repair they are replaced by new-generation clocks which, while very reliable and having state-of-the-art mechanisms, are round, not square, and do not fit into the existing rectangular mounts in Mudd.