An Introduction to Cuckoo Clocks

Everyone knows what a Cuckoo Clock is. But did you ever want to find out where Cuckoo Clocks come from and what different kinds of Cuckoo Clocks there are? Well here’s your chance, Junior, because this blog post is designed to be a layman’s introduction to the subject of Cuckoo Clocks.

Cuckoo Clocks as we know them started being made in the Black Forest region of southwest Germany sometime around the mid 18th century.

Early Cuckoo Clocks Using the Shield Design

Early Shield-Design Cuckoo Clock

Early Cuckoo Clocks were primitive clocks in which the clock gears were actually constructed out of wood. (C’mon – how accurate can a clock with wood gears be?)

Of course, what makes the Cuckoo Clock so distinctive is that, when the hour strikes, a small figure of a cuckoo bird usually comes out of a small wooden door in the clock, moves its body or wings and then makes a “cuckoo-like” sound. This is a feature which could be found even in the earliest Cuckoo Clocks…and for obvious reasons: if it doesn’t have a cuckoo, it can’t be a Cuckoo Clock.

Cuckoo Clocks are kind of fascinating, at least the first few times you see them, but we can imagine that having this blasted little mechanical bird create a repeating cuckoo sound every hour, on the hour could drive you nuts over time! (Most modern Cuckoo Clocks in fact offer an option to turn off the hourly cuckoo chime, which is a good thing…a very good thing.)

The first Cuckoo Clocks were, however, much less decorative than the Cuckoo Clocks we’re familiar with today. So much so, in fact, that, taking a look a these early Cuckoo Clocks today, the uninitiated would likely not even recognize them as Cuckoo Clocks at all.

Later Cuckoo Clocks were usually constructed with a highly decorative forest scene or hunting scene depicting life in the woods of Germany, or some kind of rustic outdoors scene.

But all of this was pretty much missing in the earliest versions of Cuckoo Clocks, which were simple painted wooden shields (”Schilduhren” in German, meaning Shield Clocks) with the clock face appearing on a painted shield or round clock face, and with the clock parts all located behind this “shield”.

Typically, there was a small wooden door above the shield out of which the bird would spring when it was time to chime at the top of the hour.

Bahnhäusle or Railroad House Cuckoo Clocks

Bahnhäusle or Railroad House Cuckoo Clock

In about 1850 Cuckoo Clocks changed dramatically from the Shield-type Clocks that preceded them.

“Bahnhäusle” means something like “railroad house” in German, and these new kind of Cuckoo Clocks had a much more detailed and elaborate frame around the clockwork and clock face.

The idea is that the more elaborate frame around the clock face was supposed to resemble the small sheltering structures in which railroad guards would stand. The frame of the small house surrounding such newer Cuckoo Clocks was usually decorated with some kind of plant or forest decoration (such as vines), and such clocks are instantly recognizable as typical “Cuckoo Clocks” today.

At this time, detailed scenes in decorative woodwork began to be depicted on Cuckoo Clocks. Such scenes usually showed forest, hunting or even religious imagery. Examples of the decorative woodwork found on Bahnhäusle Cuckoo Clocks might be the carved head of a deer at the top of the clock, or even small figures of forest workers surrounding the clock face.

Swiss Chalet Cuckoo Clocks

Swiss Chalet Style Cuckoo Clock

Also very familiar for Americans are the “chalet style” cuckoo clocks which came even later.

Swiss Chalet Cuckoo Clocks simply replace the design of the small “railroad house” frame around the clock with a house resembling a Swiss or Bavarian chalet. These kind of Cuckoo Clocks usually have “A Frame” style roofs.

Chalet Cuckoo Clocks come originally from Switzerland, and, because they are so familiar, many Americans mistakenly think that Cuckoo Clocks originated in Switzerland instead of Germany…which is not the case. Don’t be mistaken: Cuckoo Clocks, as we know them, come from the Black Forest of Germany and not from Switzerland!

Cuckoo Clock Summary

So that was, extremely simplified, a basic introduction to the subject of Cuckoo Clocks:

They began as simple panel or Shield Clocks with little decoration.
Cuckoo Clocks were then further developed into the “railroad houses” with lots of wood carvings that we’re familiar with today.
They were then even further adapted into Swiss or Bavarian Chalet style clocks.

But the cuckoo bird has always been the most important element of such clocks, belting out the cuckoo sound at the top of the hour.

The vast majority of Cuckoo Clocks have always been wall clocks, but there are also mantel clock versions of Cuckoo Clocks which are designed to rest on shelves or mantels instead of being hung on walls.

Cuckoo

These days Cuckoo Clocks are still extremely popular.

All you have to do is to take a vacation in the Black Forest region of Germany to discover that selling Cuckoo Clocks to American tourists remains a big part of the local tourist trade in the region!

Modern clock makers also continue to be inspired by Cuckoo Clocks, offering new designs of Cuckoo Clocks that incorporate the original designs with far more modern elements.

So, we hope we didn’t drive you, uhhh, Cuckoo with our little foray into Cuckoo Clocks here.

And we hope most of you still prefer online clocks to the cuckoo variety.