It’s impossible to talk about this invaluable device for measuring time without giving credit to an ingenious Muslim man called al-Jazari from south east Turkey.

A long Muslim tradition of clock-making driven by the need to call the faithful to prayer and to important religious events, led al-Jazari to make numerous clocks by 1206. He made a permanent record of them in his book, ‘The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices’.

His Elephant Clock is perhaps the most memorable of his water clocks. Made around 800 years ago, it was seven metres tall and celebrated the diversity of the world and the universal nature of Islam. A perforated bowl in the belly of an elephant at the foot of the clock measures time in half hour sections and the time is indicated on a clock face at the top of the structure.

An incredible feat of engineering, the bowl gradually filled up and sank making the phoenix on the top of the clock sing and spin, a dial turn, a figure move, a falcon release a ball, a dragon bend to place the ball in a vase, an elephant rider move and a cymbal sound. Telling the time had never been so exciting!

Discover London’s giant time piece, Big Ben, which has been nominated as an English icon. Would you vote for it?