Cuckoo Clocks

Philipp Hanhofer (1578-1647), a banker, a diplomat and an art collector invented the cuckoo clock. This was done well before the 17th century when the famous Black Forest cuckoo clocks were being carved. He lived in Augsberg. In his writings, which was the first known explanation, he described a cuckoo clock, which was then actually owned by Prince Elector August von Sachsen.

Also in the 17th century, lived a German Jesuit scholar by the name of Athanasius Kircher. He wrote a handbook about music and in it he spoke of a mechanical organ. This organ featured automated figures, one of which included a mechanical cuckoo. His book was the first found document of the mechanical working of what we now call a cuckoo clock.

There was also a book writeen on an elementary cuckoo clock called “Horologi Elementari”, and was written in 1669 by Domenico Martinelli, who was an ordained priest. He noted that he used the cuckoo calls to sound off the hours on the clock. By this time the mechanics of a cuckoo clock were already well known, and most clock makers understood and utilized the fact that it was practical to have the cuckoo sound of the hours on the clock. After this book, more cuckoo clocks were seen around, not just int he areas they were being made. Areas not well known for clock making. It was a few decades later that the famous black forest cuckoo clocks began to appear.

It is relatively unkown who actually built the first Black Forest cuckoo clock. However, this wonderfully good looking clock became extremely popular. The earliest known cuckoo clock maker was Franz Anton Ketterer, who was born in Schwarzwald. By the time the middle of the 18th century came around, there were many cuckoo clock makers, and many stores had been set up. The clocks were being generated and were operated with the aid of wooden plates and gears. They were beautifully carved and decorated with hand painted shields. Originally cuckoo clocks were very basic and they had only square faces, and were painted with an array of water colors. They clocks gradually evolved and are now much more refined in their designs.

By the middle of the 19th century cuckoo clocks were basically a flat wooden face, and the workings are the clock were attached behind the face. On the top you could find a circular piece of wood which had many beautiful patterns on it, and in there lived the cuckoo bird.