If you’re looking to add one to your home, use this short guide to identify authentic cuckoo clocks and where you can find them today. They are quality timepieces that are genuinely ornate, unique, and can last a lifetime if they are authentic. Cuckoo Clocks, Quartz Cuckoo Clocks & Miniature ClocksĬuckoo clocks have existed for centuries, hand-carved and painted from the infamous Black Forest region of Germany.Christmas Decorations, Candles & Other Decorations.

Perhaps my favorite is the German Clock Museum in Furtenwagen as they contain some of the oldest cuckoo clocks to date. There are also a number of museums that contain some of the original shield and railroad clocks that are definitely worth checking out. While visiting the Black Forest I strongly recommend stopping by some of the world-renowned clock makers, such as Hones, Rombach and Haas and Schneider. Next time you see a cuckoo clock, I hope you appreciate not only the skilled craftsmanship but also the hundreds of years of history that they represent. It is possible that one day in the near future you may not find an authentic cuckoo clock to purchase, but instead find they are manufactured in some factory far from The Black Forest. There are no younger generations interested in continuing in the trade while the remainder are retiring. Sadly the woodworking craft required to make an authentic cuckoo clock is becoming extinct. It comes in a variety of sizes and styles including chalet and carved. Today, the Black Forest cuckoo clock is a world renowned icon that has made small beautiful Black Forest villages famous. That is how Eisenlohr is credited with the modern cuckoo clock style, even though he did not design a cuckoo clock by exact definition. Other Black Forest clock makers soon merged both the cuckoo mechanism and Eisenlohr’s rail house design. Eisenlohr’s design included a cuckoo, but there was not sufficient funding to complete the cuckoo mechanism.

The box and roof style of the rail house design was the precursor to the modern day chalet clock that we see all over the world today. Ironically though, there was only one difference between Eisenlohr’s design and the final product. Eisenlohr was an architect whose then-current project was building a new railway through The Black Forest. The winning designer was Friedrich Eisenlohr. The winner would then be funded to complete their design. It was open to any clock makers who would compete for the best contemporary clock design. Therefore, in 1850, the Duke of Baden founded a school that offered classes in standard subjects such as math and writing, but also advanced clock making.Īs clock making flourished, a contest was sponsored by Robert Gerwig, the director of a Clock School in Furtwangen, Germany. It wasn’t long before the villagers would have contests to see who could make the most unique and artistic cuckoo clock. These people, the early cuckoo clock makers from The Black Forest, were given the name “Häuslers”.Īt the time, hourglasses were the most commonly used timekeepers and the clocks became not only a much more accurate replacement but were also much more entertaining. During the deep snowy winters, farmers in The Black Forest would toil away at their clock making skills and when the snow melted in the spring, they would take their clocks to sell on the road.

It wasn’t long before the cuckoo clock saw wide-spread demand and became s real source of income for the locals. Word spread rapidly of these fascinating little clocks. Thus, the first cuckoo sound mechanism was born. It was one day in the 1730s, after pondering the mechanism of a church organ bellow, he was inspired to create a sound inside the clock using the same principal. However, these early clocks were very primitive by today’s standard and did not make any sound!Įnter Franz Anton Ketterer! Ketterer was a clock maker from The Black Forest and is credited with the invention of the cuckoo clock you know today. Thus giving the name to the “cuckoo clock”. It contained a bird that resembled a cuckoo. He describes a curious little clock that belonged to Prince Elector August von Sachsen. The first description of a cuckoo clock was in 1629 and was written by a German nobleman, Philipp Hainhofer. It has been a long journey that has involved several hundred years and thousands of people in small towns located in one valley in The Black Forest. While it is easy to appreciate their charismatic beauty and charm, few realize how deeply rooted these clocks are in history. Perhaps one of the greatest contributions to the fame of The Black Forest is the cuckoo clock.

Authentic cuckoo clocks