![]() ![]() ![]() Also referred to as classic or carved, the traditional style generally includes wildlife and nature in a traditional outdoor Black Forest setting. The two most common cuckoo clock styles among collectors and buyers are the traditional-style cuckoo clock and the chalet-style cuckoo clock. To learn more, watch this informative video on The Making of a Black Forest Cuckoo Clock, put together by the VdS.Īre There Different Styles of Cuckoo Clocks?Įven though the functionality of the cuckoo mechanism has remained unchanged for more than 300 years, the case designs have evolved. The number of cuckoos indicates the hour.Ī cuckoo clock is deemed an authentic Black Forest cuckoo clock when the clock and all of its essential parts - everything from the clock case and the decorative details to the bellows and the mechanical movement components - have been handmade exclusively in the Black Forest region of Germany. Before each cuckoo, a hammer on the end of a wire hits a tiny gong. ![]() To make the quintessential cuckoo call, air pumps in and out of two miniature bellows. ![]() Every cuckoo clock also has two chains and two cast iron weights that regulate the speed at which the movement gears turn. The components vary depending on whether it’s a one-day or eight-day movement. On the inside of the clock is a system of brass gears that keep time and trigger the cuckoo function. Other cuckoo clock cases have a combination of painting and carvings. Sometimes a case has no carving at all instead, an artist paints an elaborate design. Using up to 50 different knives, the artisan will begin carving the wood. A clockmaker outlines the basic shape of the clock using a stencil and paint, then cuts it out with a jigsaw. The intricate carvings that decorate many cuckoo clocks start out as a block of wood. Cuckoo clock makers have been constructing clocks using the same time-tested mechanics and components of Black Forest cuckoo clocks from the 1700s. The history of cuckoo clocks dates back centuries. To this day, Black Forest cuckoo clock makers preserve the rich history of the region, using the same means as their forbearers to hand carve cuckoo clocks known for their quality and craftsmanship. In the late 17th century, many farmers used logs from the forest to build cuckoo clocks to supplement their income during the winter months. The cultural icon was developed and refined by wood-carvers and German cuckoo clock manufacturers from the Black Forest, a 100-mile stretch of pine trees so dense the sun struggles to reach the forest floor. Today, Ketterer is known as one of the founding fathers of the Black Forest clock making industry. By the mid-18th century, many clock-making shops in the region were producing cuckoo clocks with wooden gears. The first Black Forest cuckoo clock is attributed to Franz Anton Ketterer, a clock maker from the village of Schönwald, who, inspired by the bellows of church organs, started incorporating the cuckoo’s sound into clocks. In 1669, Domenico Martinelli penned a handbook on elementary clocks, Horologi Elementari, and described how the cuckoo call indicates the time. In 1650, scholar Athanasius Kirche documented the elements of a mechanical cuckoo clock in an engraving in a handbook on music, Musurgia Universalis. The first known description of a coo coo clock dates back to 1629 when a German nobleman named Philipp Hainhofer described a clock belonging to Prince Elector August von Sachsen. Who Made the First Cuckoo Clock?Īlthough the cuckoo clock’s origins remain unknown, evidence dates similar, though primitive, objects to the mid-17th century. Although the history of the cuckoo clock is still a topic of debate among clock makers, nearly every cuckoo clock expert agrees that the development and evolution of the cuckoo clock occurred in the Black Forest area in southwestern Germany. The cuckoo clock is one of the most iconic timepieces however, it is somewhat unknown who invented it and where the first cuckoo clock was made. ![]()
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