After five years of restoration work... the sound of Big Ben is ringing again in London

Anyone who decides to approach Big Ben should wear earplugs and a noise-isolating helmet to protect their ears from the screeching sound of the famous 13.7-ton London clock bells.

The famous London clock will officially return to work on Sunday after five years of restoration work.

Once again, the symbolic clock atop the British Parliament will chime in the style it used to, after a thousand pieces have undergone a meticulous cleaning process.

In August 2017, more than a thousand people gathered in front of Parliament to hear the last 12 minutes of Big Ben and its four other smaller bells.

Some of the people who were there at the time shed tears because they thought they had lost part of their city.

A large number of Britons are expected to gather around Big Ben at 11 GMT on Sunday, to hear the London clock ticking again.

After that, the four bells will return to work and ring every quarter of an hour, while Big Ben will ring every hour, as has been the custom for 158 years before undergoing restoration.

The time to restore the clock coincides with Remembrance Sunday, which usually falls on the first Sunday after November 11, and commemorates the first Armistice of Compiègne in World War I.

In the five years it has seen renovations, Big Ben has chimed on a few occasions with an alternative electrical mechanism, including the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8.

And Big Ben bells are installed on top of the clock, officially known as the Elizabeth Tower, which is 96 meters high, while it is protected by an external net to prevent penetration by bats and pigeons.

The view of London from the top of the clock is amazing, but the three watchmakers responsible for the work of Big Ben don't have the time to enjoy the view.

Ian Westworth, 60, and his colleagues are too busy running final tests of the watch and making sure every part is working after the £80 million (about $93 million) restoration.

- 'The Voice of London is back'

"It is the sound of London that will return," the watchmaker told AFP during a morning tour of the tower.

He points out that "the clock bells did not stop during the wars," pointing to the transformations that this symbolic landmark witnessed in the city.

The tower, which was called the "Clock Tower" before its name was changed to Elizabeth Tower during the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012, in the 1840s.

Whereas it was once one of the most prominent buildings in Westminster, the area is now home to taller and more imposing buildings.

"Previously, the sound of the clock was heard on quiet nights 15 miles away," says Westworth.

During the restoration, several parts of the bells were cleaned and repainted, but the bells themselves were not dismantled, and moving Big Ben would require the destruction of the base of the tower.

The most difficult task in the restoration was the removal of the heavy clock mechanism, weighing 11.5 tons and dating from 1859, with the aim of cleaning its parts.

Twenty-eight bulbs now light up the four hour dials, with shades between green and white to be as similar as possible to gas lamps in use during the Victorian era.

Another white light bulb was installed above the bells to indicate when Parliament was in session.

- GPS system

Prior to the restoration work, the watch's operators would check its time using telephones.

Today, they can control it through a GPS system developed by the National Physics Laboratory.

However, the method of tuning the watch is still very traditional, with old coins being used to add weights or other removal of the watch's massive springs, allowing one second to be added or lost.

With the 60-minute deadline approaching, those responsible for the restoration work are putting on earplugs and helmets to conduct a new test of Big Ben.

At 7 am, Big Ben, an enduring symbol in politically turbulent Britain, chimes seven times to deafening sounds.

However, Ian Westworth and his colleague Alex Jeffrey, 35, did not stop working.

"Every day, you engage in a manual renovation process using technology, art and craftsmanship," Jeffrey says. "This is the best job in the world."

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