The most unique clock in Barcelona is located in front of number 2 Rocafort Street. It is not on the wall, but on the floor, and marks the hours using what was once an ingenious mechanism of luminous dials. Its origin dates back almost a century ago, to the time of the 1929 International Exhibition, when the defunct financial institution Banca Rosés commissioned it as an advertising element to attract clientele. Six years later, a twin brother was born in front of 69 Via Laietana, in front of what was another bank building.
After decades of not working, today the two clocks are working again, after being rehabilitated a few years ago, although neither of them shows the correct time. Its creator was the watchmaker Juan Cabrerizo, who was commissioned by Banca Rosés. It measures two meters in diameter and consists of two circles of spheres. The interior marks the hours, and the exterior marks the minutes.
The center of the clock is dominated by a type of medallion with the image of the god Hermes, which was the logo of the financial institution, along with the coat of arms of Barcelona. They are different. The one in Rocafort has a design reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The one on Via Laietana, inaugurated on December 31, 1935, is a well-defined profile of the ancient divinity.
Banca Rosés was founded in 1930 by Tomás Rosés, heir to a family of metallurgy and cotton industrialists. Rosés was also president of Barça in 1929. Under his leadership, the club became champion that year of the first edition of the Spanish League. In 1957, the entity was acquired by Banco Condal, at which time the clock deteriorated until it stopped working. It wasn’t until the late 2010s that it came back to life.
Today, in front of the clock on Via Laietana there is a hotel, while the one in Rocafort survives next to a bank. Both watches were built with greenish artificial stone, in which glass discs that mark the hours and minutes and brass profiles with gold trim that highlight the numbers and images of Hermes are embedded.
