Cuckoo clocks are a novelty item and very poplar too. The clock resembles a chalet house and the mechanism uses weights and a pendulum to keep perfect time and sound out a cuckoo bird's call every hour using bellows. These handcrafted clocks are carved and are a collector's item. Cuckoo clocks are believed to have originated in the Black Forest region of Germany where talents of carpenters and clock makers combined to form the distinctive timepieces. Most cuckoo clocks have folksy mechanical parts, such as a bird popping out from a window or a lumberjack chopping at a tree.

The Origins of the Cuckoo Clock

The fact that people could not farm, cut timber, or trade for a living during the long snowy winters of the Black Forest brought together a striking convergence of different crafts, the knowledge of gear-driven clock making met the intricate carving of the carpenters of the area. Mechanical clocks that were filtering around Europe were just beginning to replace sundials as accurate methods of determining the time of day. The first cuckoo clocks are believed to have been created by Franz Ketterer in 1738 when he attempted to impersonate the distinctive two-tone call of the local cuckoo bird using a system of bellows, rather than bells or chimes. He mounted the insides on a miniature, ornate wooden house looking like the surrounding chalets and thus began a long tradition of crafting cuckoo clocks in the region.

Recognize a Cuckoo Clock

Antique cuckoo clocks can still be found, though hard to believe that it may have been crafted in the Black Forest, but more commonly found are the modernized versions of the clock that use quartz crystals or springs to keep time. Original cuckoo clocks can be recognized by the hanging weights, usually in the form of brown pinecones. Over a period of six to seven days one weight lowers and the other ascends and then has to be pulled down to rewind the mechanism.

The most notable thing of a cuckoo clock is sunny birds and their accompanying call. On the hour a window in the chalet opens and a tiny bird springs out and chirp the number of notes to coincide with the hour of day. In some select models other mechanized parts may also pitch into activity, such as two lumberjacks sawing a log, a farmer woman churning butter, a dog chasing a squirrel or a blacksmith hammering an anvil.