Biggest Clocks In The World: You Can't Imagine How Big It Is!

Long before we started wearing watches on wrists, clocks were one of the sources for humans to find out the time.

The practice of constructing large clock structures started in the late medieval era. While talking about the world's largest, London's Big Ben, or the Elizabeth Tower, needs a special mention.

This large clock was built way back in 1859 in a Venetian Gothic design and is considered to be one of the most popular tourist sites of London yet. Big Ben is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site at present.

The clock was renamed Elizabeth Tower to honor Queen Elizabeth II during her diamond Jubilee rule.

This largest clock of 1859 still has one of the largest clock faces. Apart from Big Ben, there are some other big clock towers that act as everlasting landmarks, too, like the Rajabai Tower of India and the Zytglogge Tower in Switzerland.

According to the Guinness World Records, the largest timepiece or clock that was ever built was the one designed by Jim Bowers exclusively for the Burning Man Festival. He built a clock with a diameter of about 1.8 mi (2.8 km) in the United States in 2012.

The face area was approximately 3.2 sq mi (8.4 sq km). The length of the hour, minute, and second arms measured 1 mi (1.6 km) each.

The clock was designed using an hour tower and laser and engineered by a laser physicist named Marcus Hertlein.

However, this clock was not a permanent settlement. There are also some permanent clock towers of the present times that made it to the list of the largest clocks.

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Cool Facts About The Biggest Clocks In The World

There are many large clock towers, but the newest largest clock tower was the one constructed in Mecca called the Makkah Royal Clock Tower. It is a part of the central tower of the government mega tall complex Abraj Al-Bait in Saudi Arabia and is certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest four-faced clock.

It was developed by the Saudi Binladin Group and is owned by the Government of Mecca.

The biggest clock in the world is the Makkah Royal Clock Tower of Saudi Arabia. This tower actually consists of four clocks constructed on each side of the tower.

The Makkah Royal Clock Tower has the world's largest clock face; the four faces have a diameter of 141 ft (43 m) per piece. This massive clock tower was manufactured in 2012.

This giant four-faced clock is engraved in the tallest building of Saudi Arabia called Abraj Al-Bait. It is also notable for being the world's highest clock, located approximately 1312 ft (400 m) above the ground in the 1968 ft (600 m) tall building.

The hour hand is 55 ft (17 m) long, while the minute hand is 75 ft (23 m) in length. The Mecca Clock snatched the title of the newest largest clock in the world from the Istanbul Cevahir Clock that was constructed in 2005.

Proud Facts About The Biggest Clocks In The World

The current second largest clock in the world was the largest clock in the world till 2012. The construction of the Istanbul Cevahir was completed in 2005, and since then, till 2012, it has stood proudly as the largest clock in the world.

The Istanbul Cevahir is one of the largest clocks in the world, having one of the largest clock faces.

The main purpose of building this clock in Turkey was to beat the record set by the Floral Clock of Iran. It has a diameter of length 105 ft (32 m), and the digits of the clock are 10 ft (3 m) high.

The clock was mounted on the large glass roof of the Istanbul Cevahir Shopping and Entertainment Centre, which is also one of the largest malls in the world.

The Cevahir Clock was built to beat the records of Iran's Floral Clock, but in 2010, the largest Floral Clock was constructed in Surat, India. It also came to be known as the third largest clock in the world, with the third biggest clock face.

As a botanical clock, it is made up of beautiful green plants and soil, which gives it an aesthetic look.

The diameter of Surat's massive floral clock is about 80 ft (24 m) and is built across 23 ac (9 ha) of land.

The fourth-largest clock in the world is a tall tower in Rio de Janeiro. It is located in Central do Brasil train station and is one of the oldest large clocks in the world.

Iconic Facts About The Biggest Clocks In The World

A tall clock tower is present in the Central do Brasil train station of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It was built way back in 1943 and stood as the tallest clock tower until 2005. This tower remained the largest clock for the longest time in history.

This clock tower of the Central do Brasil train station is a four-faced clock; each clock face has a diameter of 66 ft (20 m). It is one of the oldest artifacts of Brazil, and it was built on the top of a 443 ft (135 m) tall tower.

It was also the tallest clock of all time since 1943.

The fifth iconic clock that makes its name in the list of the world's largest clock is the Duquesne Brewery Clock of the United States. This clock was built in 1993 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

At that time, the gigantic 59 ft (18 m) facade made the Duquesne Brewery Clock the world's largest single-faced clock. This clock's face, designed by John Franklin, has been used for the advertisement of many brands, including Coca-Cola.

Before becoming a part of the Duquesne Brewery, this clock was featured on the hillside of Mount Washington. The clock was almost twice the size of the iconic Big Ben, and it also outdid Big Ben in the popularity competition.

Mysterious Facts About The Biggest Clocks In The World

The Colgate Clock of Clarkesville, Indiana, is still one of the world's largest clock faces even though they are surpassed by another successor Colgate Clock of New jersey. The Colgate Clock of Indiana, built-in 1924, sits atop a Colgate-Palmolive factory in Clarkesville.

The robusticity of the clock was soon surpassed by a brother Colgate Clock that was built in the same year in Jersey City. The latter Colgate Clock came to be known as the sixth largest clock in the world with a diameter of 50 ft (15.2 m).

The Flower Clock of Iran is a beautiful floral clock and was also the largest botanical clock when it opened in 2005. It is one of the major tourist attractions of Tehran.

This clock features a time-telling structure that is set automatically by a computer system. This mechanism has made it resistant to all types of weather conditions. Park Heroyiv in Ukraine has the second-largest floral clock that is 72 ft (22 m) in diameter.

The Allen Bradley Clock Tower of the United States is one of the largest and the oldest four-faced clocks of the world. It still stands wisely with a mighty a might face and the hour and minute hands that have been ticking for more than five decades.

The tower acted as an important navigation point for the mariners of Lake Michigan.

The largest clock face of Europe is the huge clock of Aarau station in Switzerland. It is built in the same fashion as any other Swiss railway clock, but its 30 ft (9 m) diameter length makes it one of the biggest clocks ever.

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