Novelty Cuckoo Clocks

The cuckoo clock is a popular and traditional novelty clock that's been around for years.

These familiar little houses with their calling birds to signal the hour are fun and make great gifts.

However, did you ever think about where these novelty cuckoos come from?

The exact date they came into being is still a mystery, but it's though that they originated around 1730 in Germany's Black Forest region.

There are a number of different stories about who made the first cuckoo clock, but it's commonly attributed to Franz Ketterer of Triberg.

The earliest cuckoo clocks were made entirely out of wood.

This included all the internal mechanisms.

However, after a while, both the inside and outside of cuckoo clocks became more ornate.

The birds became more articulated, with some even being covered in real features.

The introduction of metal gears and mechanisms made these clocks better at keeping time than before.

Individualized cuckoos became popular, including family motifs and military imagery.

The one thing that all these clocks had in common was the cuckoo, which called on the hour and half hour.

All cuckoos made before the 19th century were made entirely by hand, from the delicate gears to the ornate exterior.

They were often made during the winter, when other activities were difficult, and sold when it got warmer.

In the mid19th century, mechanization came to the clockwork industry, and to cuckoo clocks.

While the making of these clocks was still on the small scale, many of their parts were now mass produced.

By 1850, it's estimated that around thirteen thousand people, working for more than six hundred manufacturers, were involved in some part of making cuckoo clocks.

Since then, greater mechanization has meant that more and more cuckoos are made in factories. While their manufacture was originally limited to just Germany, it has now spread all over the world.

You can buy novelty cuckoo clocks in many locations, at a wide range of prices, so that no matter what your budget, you can enjoy having a cuckoo clock in your home.

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Learn more about Cuckoos at Wikipedia