It also calculates leap years, equinoxes, and even Easter under the complicated Gregorian rule.” - rjsarles The movement is incredible and always draws crowds at noon to watch the disciples receiving a blessing from Jesus among other things. “I love this astronomical clock (the Three Kings Clock) at the cathedral in Strasbourg, France. It has a bigger clock face than Big Ben!” - smriederĪcroterion/CC BY-SA 4.0 Williamsburgh Savings Bank Brooklyn, New YorkĮvgeny L./CC BY-SA 3.0 Strasbourg Astronomical Clock Strasbourg, France During the holiday season, poinsettia flowers surround the clock.” - CDVV86Īcroterion/CC BY-SA 3.0 Bromo Seltzer Art Tower Baltimore, Maryland

The twelve faces belong to distinguished people from the town of Caguas, such as troubador and improviser Florencio Morales Ramos, former boxer Don José Aponte Torres, and one of Puerto Rico’s most famous story writers, Abelardo Díaz Alfaro, among others. The monument was erected in 1966 by mayor Don Angel Rivera after visiting Europe. “Here in Puerto Rico, the town of Caguas is known for its Reloj Floral or Floral Clock. Ian Poellet/CC BY-SA 4.0 Reloj Floral Caguas, Puerto Rico It’s quite impressive showing time, moon phases, star signs, and much more.” - stijn014 “It’s a fully functional astronomical clock. Tfa1964/CC BY-SA 3.0 The Zimmer Clock Tower Lier, Belgium Despite all the jolly ol’ Englishness, the architecture of the clock tower is more French as it was opened in 1910 for the Centennial of Mexico’s Independence and to be tres chic was the style at the time.” - linkogecko Representative of the city’s cultural ties with England, given that many of the silver mines in the area employed miners from Cornwall, one of its big claims to fame is that the internal clockwork was made by the same company as Big Ben’s, so they’re blood brothers, so to speak. One thing they have managed to market however, is their city symbol, the literally-named Reloj Monumental (Monumental Clock). A relatively small state capital a two-hour drive away from Mexico City, it’s one of those places that knows it has tourist potential but hasn’t quite been able to market it. “I’ve written about the city of Pachuca here before. Next time…” - marenĭiego Delso/CC BY-SA 3.0 Reloj Monumental Pachuca, Mexico And actually it’s an incredibly detailed piece of art-and enormous! Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed on my trip to Japan that it completely slipped my mind to go see it. It’s not historic, and doesn’t have any crazy backstory, but for a Miyazaki and Ghibli superfan like me it is one of the coolest clocks imaginable. “The other clock that leaps to mind is the one in Tokyo designed by Hayao Miyazaki. Arjan Richter/CC BY 2.0 The Giant Ghibli Clock Tokyo, Japan Take a look at some of our readers’ favorite landmark clocks below, and if there’s a clock we missed that you’d like to recommend, head over to the forums and keep the conversation going! It’s about time we gave beautiful clocks some love. We recently asked Atlas Obscura readers over in our Community Forums to tell us about their favorite public clocks, and their responses made us want to become time travelers. They might be set into high towers, or stand on their own, but no matter the exact details of the timepiece, landmark clocks are wonders to behold. In virtually every city in the world, you’re likely to come across a beautiful, peculiar, or downright timeless clock.

Country with a big clock