The first cuckoo clock
dates back to around 1730, an improvement on roughly one hundred
years of clock making progress and cuckoo clocks have always been
manufactured by gifted artists and skilled craftsmen, many of the
older pieces that have been even minimally cared for, still exist
today.
Its origin was in the Black Forest of Germany where
people were often cooped up for the entire harsh winter, during
which time they made their clocks. Then in the summer, they made
a good living by peddling these clocks to clock carriers, (Uhrschleppers
in German) who took the clocks all over Europe to re-sell.
 Over
time, these clocks became more sophisticated with the adoption of
new ideas, tools, and skills. People also began to specialize in
certain aspects of clock making, such as carvers and case makers.
But the cuckoo did not sing until Franz Anton Ketterer, a clock-master
from Schonwald, designed a system of small bellows and whistles
to imitate the cuckoo's call in 1738, utilizing the same technology
used for church organs.
The cuckoo clock can be distinguished from any
other timepiece in a number of ways.
Just like a grandfather clock, the cuckoo has a
particular shape that readily identifies itself.
It is a wall clock that has two or three weights
to drive time, the hour, and possibly a melody.
The clock case is generally dark brown and in the
shape of a chalet style house with a peaked roof that is decorated
with a carved large bird or other animal.
The distinguishing element, the cuckoo bird, pops
out of an aperture in the peak of the chalet to announce the hour
and the half hour.
Cuckoo clocks originated in the southern part of Germany known
as the Black Forest region.
The first cuckoo clocks were entirely made out of wood, including
the internal plates and gears. As time passed, the inner workings
and decoration of the clocks became more sophisticated and ornate.
The birds wings and beaks became animated, and some were even decorated
with feathers. The inner workings of the clocks were improved with
the introduction of metal gears and metal plates. Decorative family
scenes, hunting and military motifs gained in popularity.
In the late 1800’s, the cuckoo clock industry became more
industrialised.
Cuckoo clock manufacturing spread across Germany and various other
countries in Europe and although it was still partially a cottage
industry, with work being done in people’s homes and barns,
there were also a growing number of factories.
The work was split between the decorators and the masters of the
inner workings, with technological advances in each area offering
increasingly complicated and ornate clocks.
By the middle of the 19th century, two principal forms of the cuckoo
clock had emerged. The railway house form is the kind most often
seen today.
In the relatively small village of Triberg, it is estimated that
by 1850 there were some 13,500 people engaged in some part of the
manufacture of cuckoo clocks, working for over 600 different manufacturers,
and all because Mr. Ketterer managed to duplicate the sound of a
cuckoo bird!
 The
casing of a modern cuckoo clock is conventionally shaped in the
form of a rustic birdhouse or quaint chalet from Switzerland or
Germany.
Most typical decorative elements are wine leaves, animals, woodland
plants, and hunting scenes with the modern addition of beer drinking.
Themes have developed, such as the Hunters Clocks which feature
guns, powder horns, ammunition, and game animals decorating the
clock, represented as either alive or dead.
Some are ornamented with animated scenes characteristic of the
traditional Black Forest, such as dancing couples in traditional
dress moving to music, a rotating mill wheel, or a farmer chopping
wood.
However, the most popular feature which still remains is the famous
cuckoo bird which comes out of its special door in order to sing
at each hour
Cuckoo clocks are made in a variety of countries and can still
be bought in clock shops around the world.
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