In Spain’s New Year’s Eve broadcast tradition, which clock tower’s chimes lead the midnight countdown?

In Spain’s New Year’s Eve broadcast tradition, the Puerta del Sol clock leads the midnight countdown.

The clock is located at the Real Casa de Correos in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. Its midnight chimes are broadcast across Spain, and people synchronize their celebrations with the sequence. The clock’s role is separate from the well-known custom of eating twelve grapes: the chimes provide the timing, while the grapes are eaten with the twelve principal strokes.

Television coverage from Madrid has made the Puerta del Sol clock a national symbol of the transition into the new year. Crowds also gather in the square, although the scale and access arrangements can vary by year. The building containing the clock is the headquarters of the Community of Madrid and has a long civic history.

A common confusion is to identify Madrid’s landmark as the city’s famous astronomical clock; that clock is in Prague. Another is to call the mechanism simply “Madrid’s clock” without distinguishing it from other clocks in the city. The relevant New Year time signal comes from the clock at the Real Casa de Correos.