Best known as the home of the cuckoo clock
First Black Forest cuckoo clocks were created between 1740 and 1750
Who Made It?
Since the 18th century, people have argued about where the first cuckoo clock was derived from. Books were written about it and 3 main people stand out in the invention of the cuckoo clock. In 1796 a man named Father Franz Steyrer wrote a book on how he had passed a clock peddler by a town in black forest who sold some clocks to a bohemian merchant. This man then examined the clocks and made replicas of his own to sell. But later around 1927 another man wrote a book about this by the name of Adolf Kistner, he states that no bohemians had a hand in making the cuckoo clocks because Bohemia had no clock making businesses during that time period. To this day it’s not clear who created the first one and there are no traces of where the first production line of cuckoo clocks came from. Franken-Niederbayern in East Germany is the most likely spot near the Bohemia incident. However the Cuckoo clock became famous because the black forest people eventually developed a cuckoo clock industry where they would create new designs, improve and redesign parts of the clock, and make it technically more reliable.
Cuckoo Clock Features and Different Styles & Models
Rahmenuhr early 19th Century -Known as the framed clock, these were also scarce but easier to mass produce thanks to the invention of lithography which was sort of like etching. This made it easier to create the same exact image in mass quantities. The pictures on this model of clock were more detailed than the previous version and would feature outdoor scenery, portraits of people, mythology, and religious images. The cuckoo bird would then blend into the scene somehow and jump out of the picture chirp to the hour of the day.
The Bahnhäusle mid 1800’s- This design was inspired by Friedrich Eisenlohr, an architect who is famous for constructing buildings along the Badenian Rhine valley railroad. This had flat cut outs of vines, leaves and other foliage surrounding the clockwork, later a newer version had spun off this almost identical. It was called the Jagdstück, which featured even more detail an attention towards the outdoors. Many times there would be scenes of hunting and animals.
Weltgrösste Kuckucksuhr This gift store is actually a 50:1 scale of a normal cuckoo clock. Its one of the largest attractions in Wiesbaden and is the most photographed stores in Europe. Every cuckoo clock made here is hand made to the smallest detail, every shingle is hand cut and every wood carving is made individually with no two alike.
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