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World’s largest clock chimed in Ganzhou

20 July 2010 15:31 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. While most modern cities go for iconic skyscrapers, the Southern China city of Ganzhou in Jiangxi Province has commissioned the worldâ€™s largest clock.

Built by British clock maker Smith of Derby, which has been making the complex mechanisms since 1846, the Chinese clock made Londonâ€™s Big Ben look insignificant. The faces, at 13 meters in diameter, are twice the size of Big Ben, while the minute hand alone is 7.8 meters long.

The US$1.45 million project has blended modern technology with the timeless engineering craftsmanship of clock production. Due to issues with size, weight and mass, Smith of Derby turned to EPM Technology, a Derby firm that creates carbon-fiber panels for F1 cars. It used its expertise to make hands weighing a mere 65 to 70kg (about 150lb). Clock hands built in the traditional manner would have weighed over 2 tons. Yantai, a 95-year-old Chinese firm, was responsible for building the four giant clock faces

Despite a weight of 10 tons, the finished clock was flown to China in order to meet the deadline. Staff from Smith and Derby also traveled along to Ganzhou to finish the final installment of the clock at the top of the 113 meter high Harmony Tower at the center of a new development zone in the city.