Famous Clocks You Should Know About

Clocks You Should Know - Alarm Clock Blog

Fame is an aspiration for some and a terror for others.

Some people are famous due to their talents, such as authors, actors, and artists. Some people become famous due to good works or scandals such as politicians and criminals. Objects can become famous. The Sistine Chapel is famous not only because of the type of building it is, but because of the stunning artwork on its ceiling. The Blarney Stone has become famous due to folklore.

And some clocks are famous, too…and rightfully so. In this, the first of a series of posts about Famous Clocks You Should Know About, Online Clock seeks to give you meaty, bite-sized nuggets of infotainment relating to some of the most important clocks in history. As the title of our blog post indicates, these are indeed clocks that we think you should know a little something about.

Unfortunately, no photos exist to do justice to the once-working clock elements of our first famous clock, which is known as the Tower of Winds.

One of the earliest famous clocks is the “Tower of Winds” in Athens. The “Tower of Winds” was built in the first century BC. It’s made of marble, stands about 40 feet tall, and is still standing today. The “Tower of Winds” is a weather vane and clepsydra or water-powered clock. (Besides sundials, most of the earliest clocks were powered by water). The Tower of Winds had sundials on the top, showed the time on a dial, and even had a rotating disk which indicated the position of the sun through the constellations. The “Tower of Winds” can be visited today and I scoured the internet looking for a picture that showed something resembling a clock face, but to no avail. Either that has been lost to time or no one ever takes a picture of the Tower of Winds from that angle.

Ancient Chinese Clepsydra Clocks all measured the amount of time based on how long it took water to flow from vessel to vessel.

Our next famous clock that you should know about is the Water-Driven Spherical Bird’s-Eye-View Map of the Heavens (what a name, huh?!). This clock is considered one of the top ten most prominent achievements of China. And it isn’t famous because of longevity. As a matter of fact, a few years after it was completed in 723 A.D., the internal bronze and iron mechanisms corroded and the clock stopped working. This clock is famous for being (probably) the first mechanical clock in the world. As its name indicates, it was water-driven, which kind of makes it a clepsydra, but its inner workings were mechanical. This stands as the direct predecessor of our next famous clock.

Su Sung’s Cosmic Engine Clock was a large and elaborate affair, though it was still basically a water clock combined with mechanical parts.

Su Sung’s Cosmic Engine Clock was completed in 1094 A.D. Standing at around 30 feet tall (not counting the 10 foot observation platform) this clock was an engineering marvel. It was still powered by water, but inside it held a myriad of mechanical workings. A celestial sphere inside the tower was linked to a bronze globe on the top. These two devices could be used for monitoring and observing the stars which was something critically important in medieval China. The shaft of the tower contained five floors. The floors had doors that would open and mechanical puppets would come out and display tablets that indicated the time. The puppets would also play drums and stringed instruments as well as ring gongs and bells. It ran until 1126 when it was dismantled and moved to Peking. It only ran for a few more years after that. The clock was eventually destroyed which is, in the humble opinion of this writer, a horrible tragedy.

The Prague Astronomical Clock is one of our favorite clocks. Take note of detailed figures standing on both side of this impressive clock - they're animated!

Our next famous clock is still in operation. The Prague Astronomical Clock (located in Prague…gee…who would have guessed, with a name like that?) is a beautiful and stunning speciment of a clock. Its first phase of construction began in 1410. The second stage commenced in 1490. It underwent major repair work and a few changes in 1865 and after WWII the pieces of the clock were carefully repaired and reconstructed. The clock face is a 24-hour face that also gives “Old Bohemian Time” (the time since sunset) and Babylonian “unequal hours” (the time between sunrise and sunset as measured in 12 hour long increments). The lower portion of the clock even contains a calendar.

No, please don't call it Big Ben. This famous clock's actual name is the Great Clock of Westminster...

No famous clock discussion would be complete without mentioning “Big Ben”. Located in England, “Big Ben” is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. Construction began around 1834 and “Big Ben” rang for the first time on May 31st, 1849. It stands 316 feet high. The clock faces are 23 feet square and the numbers on the clock are 4 feet tall. “Big Ben” is not technically the name of the clock tower. “Big Ben” is actually the name of the largest bell inside the Great Clock of Westminster.

These are just a few examples of historically famous clocks in the world. They’re traditional and steadfast clocks. If you take a moment to ponder the engineering and horology behind such clocks, you’ll hopefully find them as mesmerizing and beautiful as we do.

It’s even more astounding that what began with the “Tower of Winds” eventually lead up to what we now wear on our wrists or use online.

In part two of our series on famous clocks, we’ll talk about famous modern clocks.

Until then, you can impress all your friends by knowing that “Big Ben” is actually a bell.