Where Do Cuckoo Clocks Come From? A Sourced History
Cuckoo Chalet
Ask a table of people where cuckoo clocks come from and you will hear the same answer: the Black Forest, in southwest Germany. That is correct, but the full story is more interesting, and some of what gets repeated is legend. This guide sticks to what historians can document and says plainly where the record runs out.
The first written mention: 1629
The earliest known description of a clock with a cuckoo call dates from 1629. Philipp Hainhofer, a merchant from Augsburg, visited the cabinet of curiosities in Dresden and described a chiming clock with a cuckoo inside that "indicated the quarter hours with its beak and call". A 1619 inventory appears to list the same piece as a "clock with a cuckoo that yells" (source: Wikipedia, "Cuckoo clock", which draws on these records). So the idea is older than the Black Forest tradition, and the first known example was a luxury object for a princely collection, not a household clock.
How the cuckoo works: 1650
In 1650 the scholar Athanasius Kircher published Musurgia Universalis, which contains the first documented description of how a mechanical cuckoo works: the beak opens and the wings move as the sound is made. The sound itself comes from two small wooden pipes, each with a bellows on top. When the clock strikes, the movement pushes a puff of air into each pipe in turn, which gives the two-note "cuckoo" call. The weights that drive such clocks are often cast iron in the shape of a pine cone.
The Black Forest takes over
Nobody knows who invented the cuckoo clock or where the first one was built. What is documented is that by the middle of the 18th century, several small clockmaking workshops between Neustadt and Sankt Georgen in the Black Forest were making cuckoo clocks from wood. In 1762, Count Giuseppe Garampi noted that the region had "perfected" wooden-movement clocks and had started to add the cuckoo's call to them (source: Wikipedia, "Cuckoo clock").
Wood was the material of these early workshops, which is why the movements of that period are often called wooden clocks. Beyond that, we stay with what the sources say. The record shows a region, a date range and a craft, but not a single inventor or a founding workshop.
The legend of Franz Anton Ketterer
You will often read that Franz Anton Ketterer of Schönwald invented the cuckoo clock in the 1730s. Wikipedia notes that this is traditional and cannot be verified. Ketterer lived from 1734 to 1806. As the historian R. Dorer pointed out in 1948, he could not have invented the clock in 1730, because he had not been born yet. He is part of the story, but we cannot call him the inventor.
The railway house that shaped the look: 1850
The cuckoo clock most people picture, with a pitched roof, carved leaves and a bird, owes much to a competition. In 1850, the Furtwangen clockmaking school ran a design competition. The railway architect Friedrich Eisenlohr (1805 to 1854) submitted a wall clock with a shield decorated with ivy vines. His design became the model for the Bahnhäusle ("little railway house") style, and Wikipedia describes it as the prototype of the modern souvenir cuckoo clock. Its success was linked to the tastes of a growing middle class.
Quartz and modern clocks
Battery-powered cuckoo clocks have been made since the 1970s, with electromagnets regulating the movement of the bird (source: Wikipedia). Today you can find traditional mechanical clocks and quartz clocks side by side. For the differences, see 1-day, 8-day or quartz.
What the VdS certificate is
You may see the letters VdS on a clock's label. VdS stands for Verein die Schwarzwalduhr, the Black Forest Clock Association, a syndicate formed in 1987 to protect traditional mechanical cuckoo clock making in the Black Forest region of Baden-Württemberg (source: Wikipedia, "Black Forest Clock Association"). It issues a certificate of authenticity to clocks that are mechanical and made in the Black Forest to its standards. Quartz clocks cannot receive it. A clock without the certificate can still be a good clock made in Germany; the certificate is simply a specific mark of origin and construction for mechanical clocks.
Because the term is precise, check each clock's own listing and the maker's label before you rely on it. In our shop, each listing says what the movement is and whether the maker states the VdS certificate for that model.
How to read a clock's origin yourself
If you want to know where a particular clock was made, work from the evidence on the clock rather than the style. Look at the maker's name on the label or the dial, the place of manufacture, the movement type, and any certificate. Then compare with the maker's own catalog. A style described as "Black Forest" tells you about the look. A statement of where the clock was made, in writing, tells you about the origin. The two are not the same, and honest sellers keep them apart.
Why they remain popular
People buy cuckoo clocks for different reasons: as a link to family history, as a gift, for a cabin or a kitchen, or for the pleasure of a mechanical object that moves. They are not subtle. They tick, they call, and they ask for a little attention. For many owners, that is the point.
Common mistakes
- Repeating the Ketterer story as fact. It is tradition, not proof.
- Treating any "Black Forest style" clock as made in the Black Forest. The style is widely copied. Check the maker, the label and the place of manufacture.
- Assuming the VdS certificate covers quartz clocks. It does not.
- Dating the first cuckoo clock to the 1730s. The first documented description is from 1629, and documented Black Forest production from the middle of the 18th century.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Cuckoo clock": 1629 Hainhofer description, 1650 Kircher, Black Forest workshops, 1762 Garampi, Ketterer, 1850 Eisenlohr, quartz since the 1970s.
- Wikipedia, "Black Forest Clock Association": formed 1987, mechanical clocks only.
Next steps
If you would like to hang a clock of your own, start with our cuckoo clocks, or read how to set one up. Questions about makers and origin are in our FAQ.
