Manufactum cuckoo clock

During the long winter nights in the Black Forest at the end of the 17th century some of the farmers began producing timepieces for side income in ever increasing quality. The area went on to become the precision mechanical center of Germany. The often unjustly ridiculed cuckoo clock was also produced in high quality there. Friedrich Eisenlohr, architect and professor for design from Karlsruhe, derived the basic form of the housing from the signal man’s house he designed for the Black Forest railroad line. The connection was evident because it was this Black Forest line which ran through the remote valleys where the metal was mined which contributed substantially to the development of precision mechanics in the Black Forest. However in the course of time the originally austere form of the cuckoo clock gave way to the oddest decorations of flora and fauna.

We turned back the clock with this cuckoo clock. Our version is a special design based on a model by Rombach & Haas, the Black Forest watch manufacturer founded in 1894. But in its clarity of form ours goes beyond the original. The black lacquered, cone shaped iron weights are the only classical ornamental element. The movement comes from a traditional precision mechanical firm in Triberg which has been manufacturing clock works since 1856. It’s an 8-day movement, more intricate and costly to assemble than a 1-day movement, which is why it is seldom in cuckoo clocks. Because of its durability the manufacturer guarantees a running time of 15 to 20 years before the first overhaul.

In addition to a gong spring, the hammer mechanism actuates two whistles on time delayed bellows, producing the familiar "cuckoo cry ", heard since the 19th century in most cuckoo clocks. The interval is a major third like a music box. A bellows also actuates the up and down bobbing of the hand-carved bird during the sounding of the hours and half hours.