The clock is designed to tick just once a year and chime once per millennium.
Jeff Bezos' fiancee, Lauren Sanchez recently featured in an iconic Vogue photoshoot where she posed inside the intriguing '10,000-Year Clock' in Western Texas. The clock, which has been a topic of immense curiosity ever since Mr Bezos started funding it in 2011, is located inside a mountain in the Western Texas desert that's part of the Sierra Diablo Mountain Range. The clock is not easily accessible but is close to Mr. Bezos' ranch near Van Horn, Texas.
For the photoshoot, Ms Sanchez wore a red-sequined, body-hugging Dolce and Gabbana dress and was seen posing on the spiral staircase inside the clock.
''It represents thinking about the future,'' Ms Sanchez told Vogue
The 10,000 Year Clock
The concept of the clock was conceived by inventor Danny Hillis and promoted by the Long Now Foundation in the 1990s. Jeff Bezos began funding the project in 2011 and has invested $42 million into it. The clock's purpose is to inspire long-term thinking, encouraging people to consider the impact of their actions on future generations.
This clock, nestled within the mountain, is powered by solar energy. It took over a year to drill 500 feet into solid limestone and quartz to create the space for the clock, and two years for a diamond-cutting robot to slice stairs into the stone.
Notably, it is designed to tick just once a year and chime once per millennium, featuring a cuckoo that chirps only every 1,000 years. Once completed, the clock will stand 500 feet (152 meters) tall and will be powered by the Earth's thermal cycles.
There are five metal anniversary displays that will function like traditional cuckoo clocks chiming at one year, 10 years, 100 years, 1,000 years, and 10,000 years. ''The clock should keep time for the next 10,000 years, becoming “a symbol” and “an icon for long-term thinking,'' Mr Bezos said.
''We are building a 10,000 Year Clock. It's a special Clock, designed to be a symbol, an icon for long-term thinking. It's of monumental scale inside a mountain in West Texas. The father of the Clock is Danny Hillis. He's been thinking about and working on the Clock since 1989. He wanted to build a Clock that ticks once a year, where the century hand advances once every 100 years, and the cuckoo comes out on the millennium. The vision was, and still is, to build a Clock that will keep time for the next 10,000 years,'' a note on the website reads.
Visiting it will take a commitment as the nearest airport is several hours away by car, and the foot trail to the clock is rugged, rising almost 2,000 feet above the valley floor.