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Museum Visitor Caught on Video Breaking Rare Clock

'This is why we beg visitors not to touch'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 3, 2016 3:02 PM CDT

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Unless that clock has been smashed into pieces by a museum-goer with self-control issues. In that case, it's totally useless. NBC Philadelphia reports a visitor to the National Watch & Clock Museum in Pennsylvania was caught on video Tuesday poking and pulling at a rare wooden sculpture clock. Inverse quotes astounded video viewers, who noted on Reddit that the man "practically stress tested that thing" and "would NOT. STOP. TOUCHING IT.” The museum's director, Noel Poirier, thinks the man was trying to get the clock to work. All he succeeded in doing was yanking it off the wall.

The clock, which Popular Mechanics reports had been hanging in the museum for two decades and has won a national award, hit the ground and broke into pieces. The man futilely tried to re-hang the clock while his female companion gathered the pieces. They eventually had to inform museum staff of what they'd done. The museum hopes to repair the clock over the next few months, and Poirier calls it a "learning opportunity." "There are people who touch things in museums regardless of what you do," he tells NBC. "Most times, it's adults. People think it's children, but it's really not." While the museum isn't pressing charges, the man will have to endure some light internet humiliation. "This is why we beg visitors not to touch museum object. #museumfail #museums #visitorfail," the museum posted on Instagram. (This kid trashed a $15,000 Lego sculpture on the exhibit's first day.)

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