Cuckoo Clocks Blog

The 1-day-movement carved-style 21cm cuckoo clock by Hekas is a charming clock designed to become an everyday fixture in your home. Cuckoo clocks have different types of clockworks and this clock has a 1-day movement, meaning it needs to be wound up daily in order to keep the proper time.

This clock is designed and created by the world renowned Hekas Company – a premier clock making company specializing in cuckoo clocks and wood mechanics – two essentials in the production of fine clocks. The Hekas Company sets the standards in high-quality clocks that will be treasured for generations.

The 1-day-movement carved-style 21cm cuckoo clock by Hekas does not play music but the cuckoo bird calls every half and ever full hour. The cuckoo bird and the pendulum are visibly moving parts on this cuckoo clock.

Enjoy the details of this finely carved style clock. This cuckoo clock is entirely hand carved and offers precision detail that showcases the amount of work and artistic ability that goes into each clock. The clock resembles a non-chalet style house with a pitched roof and carvings of crosses, leaves and a bird. Traditional pine cone weights are an important mechanism of the clock and are also decorative and stylish. The cuckoo bird lets out a significant chirping cuckoo promptly throughout the day.

Black forest cuckoo clocks originated in Schonwald, Germany beginning in the 18 th century. Black forest clocks are intricate in design and represent some of the world’s greatest craftsmanship of wooden cuckoo clocks. Aside of the producers of this Hekas clock, there are several fine manufacturers of cuckoo clocks including Hoenes, Hubert Herr, Trenkle, August Schwer and Anton Schneider.

The cuckoo clock symbolize the culture and style of Germany. Germany is also home to the black forest area – a major wooded mountain range in the southwest corner of the country. The cuckoo clock and black forest clocks are believed to have originated in the black forest region.

The main style of the cuckoo clock is in traditional form in which it is generally hand carved from wood with intricate design features. Some common cuckoo clock features include carved leaves, pinecones and animals.
A cuckoo clock is automated and often has a cuckoo bird that appears as the clock strikes on the half hour and hour. A cuckoo clocks is generally carved into a chalet style, representing a small chalet in the mountains and forests
of Germany.

A cuckoo clock makes a striking cuckoo noise as the bird announces by his chirp the exact time at hand. Some black forest clocks also play melodies and music based on the design of the clock. Modern day black forest clocks and the traditional cuckoo clock is weight driven. Cast iron pine cones activate pipes that make a cuckoo sound at just the right time.

To obtain a modern cuckoo clock, look toward reputable design companies. Some of the main manu-
facturers of German cuckoo clocks include Anton Schneider, Hubert Herr and Romba clocks by Rombach and Haas. A cuckoo clock is hand carved, using a variety of original designs. Steeple, a bell tower, chimney or animal are common tops for a typical chalet-styled cuckoo clock. The clock face lies on the front, just below a secret balcony or door where the cuckoo bird makes his grand appearance.

The German cuckoo clock history began in the Bavarian area of Germany. In the years before 1630, time was kept with a sundial and an hourglass. When a glass peddler came back from Czechoslovakia returned with a crude clock called a wood-beam clock it changed their world. It had simple wooden gears and stones used as weight with no pendulum. This was a huge improvement over the hourglass and sundial. The people inhabiting the area began to make the crude clocks in their huts. The German cuckoo clock was invented. The inhabitants would work all winter and then a peddler would take them to various other parts of the world and sell them in the spring. The Black Forest Clock became popular around the world.

The Black Forest clock was a great improvement over the crude one that had been brought back by the peddler. The Black Forest clock was still not a cuckoo clock, they were called artist clocks. Friedrich Dilger from a small village in Germany went to France to study advance clock making and the tool skills. When his studies were completed he brought the new technology to the Germany where the genuine Black Forest clock was made.

The very first German cuckoo clock was made in the village of Schonwald by an inventive German clockmaker by the name of Franz Anton Ketterer. The clocks before him featured elaborate moving features including dancers, a skeleton which turned over an hourglass each hour and even a cow being struck by a butcher’s ax. Ketterer’s clock was the first authentic German cuckoo clock made. He added the rooster and the sound to make it say coo-coo. It was ingenious the way he developed the mechanism to run the clock. The sound was made by twin bellows that sent air through small pipes. That is the same mechanism that is used today in a German cuckoo clock.

The Black Forest clock was intricate in design. Some villages or areas would specialize by some
making the gears; someone else might make the casing and the intricate woodcarvings done by trained woodcarvers. These genuine cuckoo clocks were then assembled and sold. As the years went on they began to take on themes such as the hunter theme. They were elaborately adorned with hunting images, antlers, deer heads and powder horns. These were recognized as the German cuckoo clock.

Another style was the Bahnhausle style of clocks that were adorned by wild grape vines. They were carved to look like the lookout buildings the Italian tunnel builders built while building the railroad. What we now know as the Black Forest Clock originated from this design.

Today, you can find an authentic cuckoo clock in fine stores, on the Internet, or you could travel to Germany. Genuine cuckoo clocks are made by other companies such as Hekas and Romba clocks. Another famous clockmaker is Anton Schneider. He makes over 300 styles of genuine cuckoo clocks.

The German cuckoo clock of today is made using the same weight driven mechanism as a German cuckoo clock, but there are also clocks made with small quartz batteries. The cuckoo is achieved by a digitized recording. Whatever Black Forest clock or Black Forest clock you choose, you can appreciate
it a little more by knowing the history.

In 1885 amid the striking beauty of Germany’s Black Forest region, August Schwer crafted his first cuckoo clock. The word of its quality craftsmanship and unique design spread far and wide. Soon, August Schwer erected a small factory in which to create numerous replicas of his Original German Black Forest clock. The popularity of his Cuckoo Clocks expanded over time, as did his reputation as the wunderkind of cuckoo clock manufacturing.

What sets the August Schwer Original German Black Forest clock apart is the intricacy and attention to detail that goes in to each distinctive timepiece. The artistic quality and imagination put forth by August Schwer were simply beyond compare. Using the finest Linden tree wood that best facilitated carving, he created cuckoo clocks depicting images of nature such as deer, birds, leaves, owls and eagles. In light of this, it is no wonder that the August Schwer Cuckoo Clocks have so often been the recipient of the Black Forest Clock of the Year award.

Over the years, the August Schwer company has been handed down through four generations.
In 2000, after working in the company for some 15 years Andreas Winter was awarded the title of Owner/Manager of August Schwer Cuckoo Clocks. With this promotion, Andreas has expanded the company’s inventory by incorporating a variety of new, contemporary designs of Cuckoo Clocks.
As well, the August Schwer company has initiated the buy-out of several Black Forest workshops that manufacture cuckoo clocks.

Today, the August Schwer company offers handcrafted cuckoo clocks in both carved, and chalet styles; and in an extensive array of scenery and colors. In addition, the customer is afforded the choice of selecting cuckoo clocks with or without dancers or music; as well as the type of movement: one-day, eight-day or quartz movement.

So you see, with over a century of expertise in the design and manufacturing of award-winning cuckoo clocks, the August Schwer Company truly is the king of the cuckoo clock.