New Delhi, Sept. 25 -- On a quiet street in Palayamkottai in Tamil Nadu, efforts are under way to bring an old clock back to life. Set in the tower of Holy Trinity Cathedral, its mechanism was built by London firm John Moore & Sons, one of the foremost makers of public clocks across the British Empire. Installed in 1855, it predates Big Ben, which began keeping time in London four years later.

Clock towers across India stand tall as a reminder of how quickly the British Empire exported its systems of timekeeping. Much like the rest of the world, time in India was then measured by the movement of the sun, the timing of rituals, temple bells, church chimes, and the call to prayer.

That began to change as mechanical clocks became more accu...