Flower clock of Viña del Mar, Floral clock in Viña del Mar, Chile

The Reloj de Flores de Viña del Mar is a circular clock face set flat into a lawn at the foot of Cerro Castillo, facing Caleta Abarca beach. Low flower beds outline the face: an outer ring of dense red and green foliage, and a darker ring of reddish-brown foliage around the center. Two long white rectangular arms, a shorter horizontal one and a longer diagonal one, cross near the center as the hands, resting slightly above the beds on thin supports.

The installation opened in 1962 when Viña del Mar welcomed visitors from around the world for the football tournament. The mechanism came from Switzerland and the city planted flowers to show off its gardens.

The clock's chimes are programmed digitally to ring bells and play melodies that change with the seasons and on important celebration days, a feature added with the 2013 Mexican mechanism. Visitors can hear this sonería during their visit.

The clock sits beside a main road and is easy to find when walking from the beach toward the hill. Visitors can view the flower pattern up close and walk along a low fence.

A team of gardeners replants the flowers several times a year to keep the colors bright. They choose species by season and weather, so the pattern changes while the clock keeps running.