Three floors and 43 steps through a narrow spiral staircase. That is the path that leads to the clock case of Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. In a small room whose walls are the four spheres of this majestic jewel and whose interior is filled with the weights, needles and gears that make up its machinery, Jesús López-Terradas waits for ABC. It is one in the afternoon on a cold December day and the light that filters through the light of the enormous faces fills the room. The music of the event is provided by the sound of the immense pendulum, located one floor below. The historic watchmaker has been attending the usual interviews with the media since 8:00 a.m., which at this time of the year, once again, make him the undisputed protagonist of current events. “That one over there is the one that faces Sol.” López-Terradas has no doubt. After almost six decades in charge of its maintenance, he knows the nooks and crannies of the place like the back of his hand. «What the word watch is is the set of the case, the dials and the machine. The box is the tower. There are four spheres and then the machine,” he explains. The worker points with his fingers at what he is counting, while carefully explaining the role of each thing: «This is the clock machine, which has three parts: the central part, that is the one that moves the hands and the one that carries everything. Then, that part, every fifteen minutes, makes the quarters work and that part, makes the hours work. As he speaks, as if they had come to an agreement after knowing each other for so many years, the clock strikes a quarter. Jesus’ relationship with Sol dates back to the late 90s of the last century. Specifically, from 1995 to 1997, when Relojería Losada, which he has owned since 1981 together with his partners Pedro and Santiago and his brother Juan, won a competition from the Community of Madrid to carry out this work. “I guess, as always, when you participate and win, it gives you joy,” he says, laughing. Born into a family of watchmakers – his great-grandfather, grandfather, uncle and brother have also been watchmakers – López-Terradas carries the trade in his veins. «I played with old watches. To put them together and take them apart,” he recalls tenderly. “When you’ve experienced that, of course, you like it, fortunately,” he adds, after confessing that, when he passed by the Royal Post Office as a child, he never imagined that he would end up keeping this nineteenth-century jewel. “Not at all, really, no.” A year-round job Taking care of the most important clock in Spain is much more than making sure it works on December 31. Includes weekly maintenance tasks. These extend throughout the year and the proximity of New Year’s Eve does not mean that there are more sessions in December. “I come normally,” explains the ‘guardian of Sol’. “If I’m not there, for vacation, work or whatever, Santi or Pedro come,” says López-Terradas. Despite working with a time machine, he admits that he doesn’t usually take time for many of his chores. Not for this one either. “We come to do whatever it takes,” he details. “You look, you raise the weights, you grease the clock, you grease the wheels, you look at the levers… you clean it, you leave it as it should be,” he summarizes bluntly. “What I wait for is the last bell, to listen to the people. What a joy! What a pleasure! Jesús López-Terradas Clockmaker of Puerta del SolThe work carried out by the three professionals helps the clock arrive in perfect condition every December 31 for New Year’s Eve and every 30 for the preúvas, which are celebrated just 24 hours before it ends. the year. «We have worried that while we are here the clock works well. “It’s not worth lying here,” says López-Terradas, who confesses that he has never stopped in his unusual nightmares. “If I dream about it, I run out to repair it,” he laughs. Professionals are so convinced that it will turn out well, that they don’t even have a plan B in case something goes wrong. “Run away,” the watchmaker jokes about it. “By the roof,” he continues when referring to the number of people who would wait in the square. Precisely, this crowd is what makes the watchmaker’s New Year’s Eve happy. «What I am waiting for is the last bell to listen to the people. “What a pleasure!”, recalls smiling the man, who has not missed his appointment with the sundial on any December 31st. “We come at eleven at night. We are here, from below we hear the time how it sounds, with the speakers. Checking everything. Earrings in case there is anything, which I don’t think so. Because we are here all year, every week… but, at the end of the day, it is a machine,” says Jesús, who claims not to feel essential – “no one is” – and details that they do not have a role specifically assigned for that night. , but any of the three can do anything. “And we are here, waiting for the whole square to fill up with people,” says the watchmaker, who perfectly describes the sound of New Year’s Eve in the crowded Puerta del Sol. from Madrid. «When the ball is going to go down – which is only activated on the same 31 at night and on the 30 – everyone remains silent, until the last bell rings. «The day when I have to stop coming is over and it’s over “Like all things in life” Jesús López-Terradas Clockmaker of Puerta del SolThis year will be its twenty-eighth bells and if he looks back, although generally for him it is, in his own words “a moment of joy.” , López-Terradas has also experienced completely different changes of the year that were beyond the imagination of any mortal. Specifically, it refers to one: the transition from 2020 to 2021, when due to the restrictions derived from the coronavirus pandemic, access to Puerta del Sol was prohibited to the public. «I think it is the worst time I have been here. Because not hearing anything, knowing that there is no one, that there is no sound, the worst… much sadder,” he laments. Almost three decades without grapes Despite everything, the watchmaker, who, consequently, has not taken a drink for almost 28 years the grapes, he is “delighted” to conduct the first bars of a new year and the last of the previous one. “I’ll do it again,” he responds to the question of whether he will take the grapes when he no longer goes to the clock. «I’m going to remember when I was here, but I will do it. I will be with my wife, my children and my granddaughter. Although maybe I miss it,” he says. However, for the moment he plans to continue attending his annual appointment: “And so comfortable,” he smiles, “and the day he has to stop coming, well, it’s over and done with. Like all things in life, without further ado. For the moment that day has not arrived and in just over 48 hours the entire country will look at the same point, at the Puerta del Sol clock. Inside will be Jesus, Santiago and Pedro, along with maintenance colleagues, working so that those who want can eat the grapes. When the last bell rings, they will turn on the ‘Happy 2025’ light among the joy unleashed at street level. The toast, “of course”, will also be held inside the tower. At around 1am, they will return home, with the pleasure of a duty well done. It will be time to go down the 43 spiral stairs once again. But for a short time: next week, we will have to take care of this Madrid jewel again.
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