The Puerta del Sol clock in Madrid provides the midnight chimes broadcast for Spain's 12-grape tradition.
Puerta del Sol is one of Madrid's most important public squares, and its clock tower sits atop the Casa de Correos building. On New Year's Eve, television coverage focuses on the clock as its chimes mark the ritual in which people eat one grape for each of the 12 midnight strokes.
The first sounds heard around midnight are warning or quarter chimes, followed by the 12 principal strokes. Timing matters because participants try to eat a grape with each of those main chimes. The sequence has become a shared national broadcast even for people celebrating far from Madrid.
The Casa de Correos building was completed in the eighteenth century and is now the headquarters of the Community of Madrid. Puerta del Sol is also associated with Kilometre Zero, the conventional starting point for measuring Spain's radial roads. The square's clock, rather than a cathedral or the nearby Royal Palace, is the specific landmark tied to the grape countdown.