Flower Clock, Viña del Mar

The Reloj de Flores, or Flower Clock, is a clock whose face is made of living flowers. It sits at the foot of Cerro Castillo, across from the Caleta Abarca beach in Viña del Mar, a seaside city on Chile's Pacific coast. Viña del Mar is nicknamed the Garden City, and this clock is one of its best-known sights.

The clock was bought in 1962, when Viña del Mar was getting ready to be one of the host cities of that year's football World Cup. Its dial is planted on a grassy slope and is about 10 metres across, and its hands turn by machinery.

History

The first clock mechanism was built in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, by the Favag factory. The city bought it in 1962 as part of a plan to make Viña del Mar more beautiful for the World Cup. In 2013 vandals had damaged the machine, so it was replaced with a new one controlled by GPS, made in Zacatlán, Mexico, which can fix its own time. The new machinery also plays chimes and melodies that change with the seasons and special days.

A clock that survived a landslide

On 19 May 2017 a storm caused a landslide and a tree fell onto the clock and destroyed it. The mayor promised to rebuild it. Within a week the flower beds and gardens were replanted, and only the motor and the wooden hands were missing. The repaired clock began working again on 29 June 2017.

On the globe

The model shows a round flower clock on a grassy slope with its hands. Look for the colourful flower dial.