Campers at Madrid's Puerta del Sol complain the clock chimes every 15 minutes

The clock of the Real Casa de Correos strikes the quarters, and those camping in the Puerta del Sol complain they cannot sleep because of the bells every fifteen minutes. The response on social media was to laugh about it.

A group is camping in the **Puerta del Sol**, in Madrid, and among their complaints is one that sounds like a joke: the clock bells ring every **fifteen minutes** and do not let them sleep. The response on X: four laughing emojis.

## The Puerta del Sol clock, running since 1866

The clock is the one on the **Real Casa de Correos**, built by **José Rodríguez Losada**, running since **1866**. It also strikes the quarters, and every 31 December it marks the New Year's Eve chimes.

So the complaint is not about a malfunction: it is about the square's built-in noise, which predates any encampment.

## Sleeping in the square: free floor, costly rest

Sleeping in the Puerta del Sol is cheap in euros and expensive in rest. Noise is the classic externality: someone produces it without paying and whoever suffers it gets nothing.

Silencing the clock would have a cost and its critics: it is heritage, it draws visitors, and it rings just as loud when the square is full as when it is empty.

## Laughter on X and no fix in sight

Whoever posted the response proposed no measures: four laughing emojis and a link. The gesture sums up the matter: the clock does not negotiate schedules with anyone.

For the campers, the calculation is simple: the accommodation is free and the price is paid in sleep.