Cuckoo Clocks

Every cuckoo clock we sell is made in Germany, by Trenkle, Hönes, Sternreiter or Rombach & Haas. Each listing tells you plainly how the clock runs (quartz, 1-day or 8-day), whether it plays music, how it goes quiet at night, and whether it carries the VdS certificate. Shipping is free to the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C.: prepared in 1 to 2 business days, delivered in 2 to 5.

New to cuckoo clocks? The buying guide below explains the choices in plain words.

Cuckoo Clock Buying Guide: How to Choose the Right One

A cuckoo clock is one of the few objects people keep for decades and hand down. It is also easy to get wrong: a clock that is too loud for the bedroom next door, a movement you have to wind every morning when you wanted to forget about it, or a "Black Forest style" copy when you were hoping for the real thing. This guide walks through the six questions that matter, in the order we would ask them if you called us.

1. Quartz, 1-day or 8-day: how do you want the clock to run?

This is the biggest decision, and it changes both the price and your daily routine.

Quartz (battery) cuckoo clocks run on batteries, usually two AA or two C. Nothing to wind, no pendulum to fuss with, and the cuckoo call is a recording played on the hour. Many also play a melody. They are the simplest choice for a busy household, a vacation rental, or a gift for someone who will not want to pull chains. Our quartz clocks are made in Germany by Trenkle, and start at $139 with the Edelweiss. The Bertina adds a light sensor that silences it when the room goes dark.

1-day mechanical cuckoo clocks are the traditional kind. Pine cone weights hang on chains and slowly drop as they drive a brass movement; a pendulum keeps the time. Once a day you pull the free end of each chain to lift the weights back up. Many owners love this little ritual, often in the morning with coffee. The call is made by two small bellows pushing air through wooden whistles, which gives the warm, slightly breathy "cuck-oo" that a recording never quite matches. Our 1-day clocks start at $329 with the Sternreiter Bird & Leaf 1200.

8-day mechanical cuckoo clocks work the same way, with a larger movement and heavier weights, so one winding lasts about a week. Pick a day, say Sunday, and pull the chains once. For most people this is the sweet spot: all the charm of a mechanical clock, without the daily commitment. Our 8-day clocks start at $539 with the Sternreiter Bird & Leaf 8200, the clock we recommend most often.

A quick rule: if the clock is a gift for someone who has never owned one, quartz or 8-day. If you grew up with a cuckoo clock and want the same experience, 1-day or 8-day. If you will be away for long stretches, quartz.

2. Music and moving figures, or a simple call?

A basic cuckoo clock does one thing: the little door opens and the bird calls, usually on the hour and once on the half hour. Some models add a gong strike with the call.

Musical cuckoo clocks add a melody after the call. On mechanical clocks this is a real Swiss-made music box, playing one or two tunes, sometimes more. On quartz clocks it is a recorded melody, often a different one each hour; our Trenkle quartz models play 12 tunes. Mechanical musical clocks have a third weight to drive the music.

Moving figures are what make chalet clocks so fun to watch: dancers that turn on a balcony, a waterwheel that spins, a woodchopper swinging an axe, a beer drinker lifting his mug. They move with the music or the call. If you want to see a show at every hour, look at our musical cuckoo clocks. If you prefer something calmer, a carved bird-and-leaves clock without music is the classic choice.

3. Will it be too loud at night?

This is the question we hear most from people who share a wall with a bedroom. A cuckoo clock calls 24 times a day on the hour, plus the half-hour calls on many models. The answer is a night shut-off, and there are three kinds:

Automatic (light sensor): the clock goes quiet when the room is dark and starts calling again when the lights come on. Found on some quartz models, like the Bertina.
Manual lever or switch: you flip it in the evening and again in the morning. On some musical mechanical clocks the lever silences both the music and the cuckoo while the clock keeps time.
Shut-off switch for the cuckoo: the most common on mechanical clocks. It stops the call for as long as you want.

Every product page on our site says which kind the clock has, or that the maker does not list one. You can also browse only the cuckoo clocks with a night shut-off.

4. Carved, chalet or modern: which style fits your wall?

Carved clocks are the classic look: a bird on top, oak, maple or grape leaves all around, sometimes animals or hunting themes. The best are hand-carved from linden wood, a soft, fine-grained wood that Black Forest carvers have used for centuries. A special case is the Bahnhäusle or railroad house, the oldest cuckoo clock design still made today: it dates from 1850, when Friedrich Eisenlohr of Furtwangen drew a railroad guard's house covered in vines. See our carved cuckoo clocks.

Chalet clocks are little Black Forest houses with balconies, shutters, shingled roofs, pine trees and figures. They are often hand-painted and often musical. They fit a cabin, a kitchen, a cozy living room or a mountain rental. See our chalet cuckoo clocks.

Modern clocks keep the mechanical cuckoo but drop the carving: clean shapes, plain wood, sometimes bold colors. The Romba Cubus is a simple wooden cube with an 8-day movement. See our modern cuckoo clocks.

5. How big is it, really?

Measurements on cuckoo clock listings usually give the case only: height, width and depth of the wooden part. The chains and weights hang below, and on a mechanical clock they need room to drop. Plan for roughly the same length again below the case on a 1-day clock, and more on an 8-day clock, then add space for the pendulum to swing freely. In practice:

Hang a mechanical clock high enough that the weights, fully wound, sit well above any furniture, and low enough that you can reach the chains comfortably.
Small clocks (6 to 9 inches) suit a hallway, a kitchen or a narrow wall. Larger chalets (15 inches and up) need a wall of their own.
Use a sturdy screw, not a small nail: a large musical clock with three weights is heavier than it looks.

Every listing on our site gives the maker's dimensions in inches.

6. Is it authentic? What "Made in Germany", "Black Forest" and "VdS" mean

Many cheap cuckoo clocks sold online are "Black Forest style": they look the part but are made elsewhere, often with plastic parts and a recorded call. There is nothing wrong with that at a low price, but it is not what most buyers are looking for when they search for a German cuckoo clock.

Three labels help you tell the difference:

Made in Germany: the clock is made by a German maker. Every clock in our shop is made in Germany.
Black Forest: the clock comes from the Black Forest region in southwestern Germany, the home of the cuckoo clock. The makers we carry are based there: Trenkle in Simonswald, Hönes in Titisee-Neustadt, Rombach & Haas in Schonach.
VdS certificate: the VdS (Verein die Schwarzwalduhr, the Black Forest Clock Association) certifies mechanical cuckoo clocks whose essential parts are made in the Black Forest. A certified clock comes with its certificate. The VdS only certifies mechanical clocks, so a quartz clock is never VdS certified, however good it is.

On our site, "VdS certified" appears only on the models whose maker lists the certificate. You can see all of them in our Black Forest VdS-certified collection.

Why do cuckoo clocks cost what they do?

A real mechanical cuckoo clock is a small machine built largely by hand: a brass movement, two or three hand-made bellows, wooden whistles, a carved or painted case, and on musical models a Swiss music box. A large chalet can take many hours of carving and painting. That is why a mechanical Black Forest clock starts at around $200 and the most detailed pieces cost several thousand. Our range goes from $139 for a German quartz chalet to $2,619 for the Romba Farmer Couple, hand-painted by Conny Haas.

A well-kept mechanical cuckoo clock lasts for decades. Like any mechanical clock, it benefits from a cleaning and oiling by a clock repairer every few years. Chains, weights, bellows and pendulums can all be replaced; we sell the common ones in Parts & Care.

Setting up your clock: what to expect

A quartz clock is ready in two minutes: hang it, put in the batteries, set the time.

A mechanical clock takes about fifteen minutes the first time. Remove the packing material from inside the case (there is often a small foam or paper piece holding the bellows and the gong), hang the clock on a sturdy screw so it sits flat against the wall, hook the pendulum on, and hang the weights on their chains. Give the pendulum a light push and listen. The tick-tock should sound even, like a steady walk. If it limps, gently move the bottom of the case to the left or right until it evens out. This is called putting the clock "in beat", and it is the most common reason a new cuckoo clock stops after a few minutes.

Set the time by moving the minute hand only, clockwise, and let the cuckoo finish calling each time you pass the hour or the half hour. If the clock runs fast, slide the pendulum bob down a little; if it runs slow, slide it up. A few days of small adjustments and it will settle.

If you get stuck, email us a short video of the clock ticking. A real person answers within 24 to 48 hours, Monday to Friday.

Our short list

Best first mechanical clock: Sternreiter Bird & Leaf 8-Day (8200), $559. Hand-carved, VdS certified, wound once a week.
Classic daily ritual: Sternreiter Bird & Leaf 1-Day (1200), $349.
Quiet nights, no winding: Trenkle Bertina, $299, with automatic night shut-off.
Christmas gift: Trenkle Kringle Santa Claus, $159.
Carved, with a night lever: Hönes Ulrick 1-Day, $329, or Hönes Lena 8-Day, $539.
A show every hour: Sternreiter Bavarian Inn (8389), $1,479.