If you are fascinated by clocks, you might want to visit some of the biggest ones in the world. Clocks are not only useful for telling time, but also for displaying art, culture, and history. Here are the top 10 biggest clocks in the world, ranked by their diameter.
10. Grozny City Towers Clock, Grozny, Russia
The Grozny City Towers Clock is located near the apex of the northwest and southeast sides of the Grozny City Towers in Grozny, Russia.
The dial of each clock, including the hands and clock movement, weighs about 5,200 kilograms (5.7 short tons).
The hour hand weighs 250 kilograms (550 lb) each and the minute hand weighs 400 kilograms (880 lb) each. The clock movement weighs 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) each.
The dials of each clock are made of “Bri-Curtain” LED arrays formed of aluminum, designed to both save weight and offer less resistance to wind.
Each pair of hands is made of seawater-resistant aluminum, statically and dynamically balanced.
9. Abbasabad Floral Clock, Tehran, Iran
The Abbasabad Floral Clock is located in the Abbasabad district of Tehran, Iran. It is one of the world’s biggest clocks and was installed at a cost of six hundred million rials. The clock measures 15 meters in diameter and weighs 750 kilograms. It was built by the private sector in cooperation with Tehran Municipality in two years.
8. NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building, Tokyo, Japan
The NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building is a skyscraper located in the Sendagaya district of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. It stands at a height of 240 meters (790 ft) and is the fifth tallest building in Tokyo.
The building is owned by the NTT Docomo group and houses some offices, but is mainly used to house technical equipment for the company’s cellular telephone service.
To commemorate NTT Docomo’s 10th anniversary, a 15-meter-diameter clock was put into operation in November 2002 on the north side of the building.
The clock was made by Citizens and is illuminated at night.
7. Colgate Clock (New Jersey), Jersey City, USA
The Colgate Clock is an octagonal clock facing the Hudson River near Exchange Place in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA.
The clock has a diameter of 50 feet (15 meters).
It was originally located atop the headquarters of the Colgate-Palmolive company until 1985, when it was moved to a ground-level location 1,300 feet (400 meters) south of that building, which was demolished and replaced with the Goldman Sachs Tower.
The surface of the clock is 1,963 square feet and the minute hand measures 25 feet in length. The hour hand stretches out to 20 feet.
6. Duquesne Brewery Clock, Pittsburgh, USA
The Duquesne Brewery Clock is located on the Duquesne Brewing Company building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
It was the largest single-faced clock in the world when it was installed in 1933.
The clock face measures 60-by-60 feet (18 m × 18 m). The minute hand is 35 feet (11 m) long and the hour hand is 25 feet (7.6 m) long. Both hands are made of laminated aluminum.
The clock was built in Georgia by Audichron for $12,500 and shipped to Pittsburgh. It was designed by Audichron founder John L. Franklin and is driven by a 1.25-horsepower (0.93 kW) Janett motor.
5. Allen-Bradley Clock Tower, Milwaukee, USA
The Allen-Bradley Clock Tower is located on top of the Allen-Bradley Building (now Rockwell Automation) on the South Side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
The clock tower was designed by local architect Fitzhugh Scott and was unveiled on October 31, 1962. It stands at a height of 280 feet (85 meters) above street level.
Each of the four clock faces has a diameter of 40 feet, 3-1/2 inches (12.27 meters).
The hour hand is 15.8 feet (4.8 meters) long and weighs 490 pounds (220 kg), while the minute hand is 20 feet (6.1 meters) long and weighs 550 pounds (250 kg). The hour markings are 4 feet (1.2 meters) high.
Harry Bradley, one of the founders of Allen-Bradley, intended the tower to become the “village clock” for the neighborhood.
It also became a navigational landmark, as the faces can be seen miles out into Lake Michigan on a clear night.
4. Central do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Central do Brasil Clock is located on a 135-meter-tall tower in the Central do Brasil train station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The clock tower is 122 meters (400 feet) tall. The clock has 4 faces, each with a diameter of 20 meters (66 feet).
3. Surat Floral Clock, Surat, India
The Surat Flower Clock is located in the Late Navinchandra Mafatlal Garden in Surat, Gujarat, India. It is the 3rd largest clock and the largest floral clock in the world. The clock was built in 2010 to commemorate the occasion of the golden jubilee of Gujarat’s statehood. It stands on natural soil and plantations.
The clock has a diameter of almost 25 meters. Its big hand comes close to weighing a tonne.
2. Istanbul Cevahir Mall Clock, Istanbul, Turkey
The Istanbul Cevahir Mall Clock is located on the large glass roof of the Istanbul Cevahir Mall in Şişli district, Istanbul, Turkey.
The clock has a diameter of 32 meters (105 feet) and it was designed to beat the record set by the Floral clock in Tehran, Iran.
Constructed in 2005, the digits of the clock are about 3 meters high (10 feet).
The mall had the largest leasable area in Europe from 2005 to 2011 and it is one of the largest malls in the world.
1. Abraj Al Bait Clock Tower, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
The Abraj Al Bait Clock Tower is located in the Abraj Al Bait complex of seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The central hotel tower, also known as the Makkah Clock Royal Tower, is the fourth-tallest building and sixth-tallest freestanding structure in the world.
The clock tower contains the world’s largest clock face, with a diameter spanning 43 meters (141 feet). The clock is more than five times as large as Big Ben in London.