Amazon boss Jeff Bezos is building a $50 million clock inside a mountain

WHEN you have all the money in the world you can do some wacky and wonderful things, but even Jeff Bezos admits this is a little different.

AMAZON founder Jeff Bezos has started building a $53 million clock inside a hollowed-out mountain.

The uber-rich tech CEO says the ridiculous venture is a “symbol for long-term thinking”, and shared a video of the clock’s construction on Twitter.

Installation has begun—500 ft tall, all mechanical, powered by day/night thermal cycles, synchronized at solar noon, a symbol for long-term thinking—the #10000YearClock is coming together thx to the genius of Danny Hillis, Zander Rose & the whole Clock team! Enjoy the video. pic.twitter.com/FYIyaUIbdJ

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) February 20, 2018

The idea for the clock was developed by inventor Danny Hillis back in 1995, but its taken years (and lots of Jeff Bezos dollars) to get the project off the ground.

The gargantuan timepiece is intended to last for at least 10,000 years, and should accurately keep time over that entire duration.

Bezos’ team has spent the last few years building parts for the clock and hollowing out a remote mountain in Texas to contain the parts.

But it’s only now that the clock team have been able to begin installation of the wacky creation.

The clock team has spent the past few years hollowing out the mountain to store clock parts.

In a post to social media, Bezos said: “Installation has begun. 500 foot tall, all mechanical, powered by day/night thermal cycles, synchronised at solar noon, a symbol for long-term thinking.

He added: “The 10,000 year clock is coming together thx to the genius of Danny Hillis, Zander Rose, and the whole clock team.”

The clock’s chime generator will create a unique bell-ringing sequence every 24 hours.

There will also be five “anniversary chambers” that contain a different mechanical animation.

The one-year chamber will feature a model of our solar system, followed by a 10-year, 100-year, 1,000-year, and 10,000-year animations that have yet to be decided.

Incredibly, a cuckoo is also designed to pop out of a hole every 1,000 years. Why? Just for fun, it seems.

Back in 2011, Bezos is quoted as saying: “In the year 4000, you’ll go see this clock and you’ll wonder ‘Why on Earth did they build this?’”

The public will be able to visit the clock once it’s completed, but the trip won’t be easy.

On the clock’s website, Bezos writes: “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.”

This article was originally published on The Sun and was republished here with permission.