Among the crowded field of landmarks visible along New York Harbor- the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Verrazano Bridge - the Colgate Clock may not rank high in historical significance. But at night you can see its giant neon-red hands along the New Jersey side of the Hudson River from miles away.
According to a history of the clock compiled by New Jersey City University, the clock is a 1924 replacement for the original 1908 steel clock face, which stood atop the Colgate-Palmolive factory in Jersey City all the way up until the 1980s. When the Colgate headquarters was razed to make room for the new Goldman Sachs Building, New Jersey preserved the clock, which now rests on an empty lot, leased to Colgate-Palmolive by the state of New Jersey, and maintained by Goldman Sachs.
Though it’s often billed as the world’s largest clock in tourism literature, Wikipedia now places it in the fourth spot worldwide. The surface of the clock is 1,963.5 square feet and 50 feet in diameter. The minute hand is 25 feet 10 inches long; the hour hand is 20 feet long. The timepiece can be adjusted and is maintained to stay within one minute of accurate time.
Know Before You Go
Reachable from the PATH train at Exchange Place; follow Essex Street east until you see the Hudson, the clock will be on your right.