Underneath, in front of the pendulum, are four holes where the stainless steel chains descend from the movement. Many clocks have a night-time shutoff, which silences the bird either by a switch on the side or a push/pull mechanism at the bottom (some even have light-sensing switches). The pendulum has a counterweight near the bottom that can be moved up or down to adjust the timekeeping – up makes it faster, down makes it slower. Winding is achieved by pulling the adjacent chains to return the weights to the bottom of the clock. Eight-day clocks are the same but can endure for eight days, while music/animated clocks have three weights. ![]() One-day clocks have two weights and chains long enough for a 24-hour descent before hitting the floor. Unlike a watch with a mainspring and balance wheel, hanging weights and a pendulum power most cuckoo clocks (there are exceptions for tabletop clocks). There are four types of movements/clocks, broken up into two main categories: one-day and eight-day, with or without music (and twirling figures like dancers, bell ringers, etc.). Original clocks had wooden gears, but modern movements are brass and relatively unchanged for over a century. A typical view of the Black Forest region, Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany – source: Wikimedia Although intricate clocks existed prior to this, with animated dancers and such, Ketterer’s was the first with twin bellows to create the familiar cuckoo call coupled with a carved wooden bird. A handful of other descriptions appeared in handbooks and illustrations, but it was German clockmaker Franz Anton Ketterer who made the first official German cuckoo clock in the village of Schonwald. In 1629, a description of a “coo coo clock” was attributed to Prince Elector August von Sachsen by a German nobleman. The origins of clockmaking in the Black Forest are a bit murky but go back to the mid-17 th century. BackgroundĪ mountainous region in southwest Germany (bordering France) is known as the Black Forest, densely populated with a variety of tree species and open pastures offering panoramic views. Specifically, a walnut bird house model from clockmaker Rombach & Haas, established in 1894. So, let’s take a look at one of the most famous clock styles from the Black Forest region of Germany – the mechanical cuckoo clock. In the same vein, we also dip our toes into the world of mechanical clocks, covering haute horology pieces like the creature-inspired MB&F TriPod Table Clock and futuristic De Bethune x Dream Watch 6. The vast majority of what we cover are mechanical wristwatches, although every now and then we’ll highlight something intriguing like the quartz Citizen Calibre 0100 with an accuracy of +/- 1 second per year. ![]() If it's your own and you want to change the movement, then go for it if you must, but you're not learning anything.Monochrome is all about watches, of course. If you can't do that, then maybe these 'so-called' pro's should leave their fingers out of them. As H/C and others have stated, I also prefer to fix them. I'm becoming more and more fed up with this through away mentality. Sure, they won't be as sought after as the old Beha's, however. At one point, the old cuckoo's will become antiques. I've rebuilt every cuckoo clock that's come my way, never installed a "replacement" movement. and it still won't look like it once did. Now, the case needs rework, new 275g weights, different plywood spacers, closing up the old holes, putting new holes in, filling and repainting the hole-plugs etc. All told, I feel the customer would have been better served if the original Hubert Herr movement would have been cleaned & overhauled with new bushings. ![]() Sisd to side spacing between the Regula and Herr movements is different as well. Then, the chain made some severe ruts into the chain-holes, as it was misaligned fore-aft at least 1/2". All told, it needed 8 bushings, as the heavy weights were way to much. Now, after around 5 yrs, the customer complains that it doesn't run any more. Although they used roughly 3/8" thick plywood "spacers" under the movement feet, the chain holes did not line up. Kept the original weights (420g), vice using the Regula optimum 275g weights. Someone long-ago substituted a Regula 25B. Based on the chain hole pattern and dimensions (side to side and fore-aft hole locations), it originally had an older Hubert Herr movement. Just working on one of these Cuckoo clocks.
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