The Mecca Clock will be tested during Ramadan.
Saudi Arabia is hoping their new giant clock will help Mecca replace London as the new central time zone in the world.
The massive clock boasts four gold-clad faces measuring 46 meters (151 feet) across, more than six times the size of the clock faces on Big Ben in London, which are 7 meters (21 feet) in diameter. The Arabic words “In the Name of Allah” will appear under the clock and will be lit with two million LED lights.
The top of the clock will be fitted with a shimmering spire topped by a golden crescent moon and some 21,000 white and green coloured lights that will flash as far as 30 kilometres (18.7 miles) away to signal the Islamic call to prayer.
Artist's rendering of the completed project
On special Muslim occasions, 16 bands of vertical lights will shoot some 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) up into the sky.
The clock will adorn a tower opposite the south gate of Mecca’s Grand Mosque, whose total height will be 590 meters (1,947 feet) – the second tallest tower in the world, behind only the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which is 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall.
The tower and clock are part of a planned Abraj al-Bait complex that will include six other skyscrapers ranging between 42-48 stories tall. The Saudi government project will have 3,000 hotel rooms and apartments, a five-story shopping center and gigantic prayer and conference halls, totalling it 1.5 million square metres (16.1 million square feet) of floor space once finished.
The complex is being funded by the Saudi government to accommodate the millions of people who make a pilgrimage to Mecca every year for the Hajj.
Here is what it looks like the top of the construction site:
The Saudis plan to run the clock for a test period during Ramadan starting August 12.
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