The "bongs" of Big Ben will be heard for the last time at 8am on Saturday before Britain's most famous clock falls silent for a month.
Maintenance work will mean the hourly chimes and quarter bells will cease to ring until September.
The work will include the replacement of the bearings on the strike train which operates the hour bell (Big Ben) and the going train which controls the clock itself.
While the clock will continue to work, those who set their watch by it should be aware that on Saturday it will be stopped for several hours while an alternative system is installed to keep it working while the maintenance work to the bells is carried out.
At 9am on Saturday, a team of specialist "industrial rope access technicians" will abseil down the south clock face, to start a day of cleaning and repair of the clock faces.
This work takes place every five years.
The latest maintenance work is the second and final phase of a programme of planned works prior to the historic clock's 150th anniversary in 2009.
The work is expected to take between four and six weeks.
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