Everyone knows what a cuckoo clock is. Yet, there is much more than first meets the eye. These time pieces have specific movements and personalities. The little bird inside, lets you know the hour of the day. To fully understand and appreciate these unique items, you may need to travel back in time. Set your calendar for the early ninth century. This is about eleven hundred years ago.

It is around the year 800. Is your calendar properly set? You are in the court of Charlemagne. The caliph of Baghdad has just presented him with an amazing gift. Pay no attention to the elephant. Look at the clock, instead. It is a mechanical clock. Every hour, a mechanical bird appears to let you know. History does not reveal the inventor of this amazing artifact. It is the start of many more such items.

Now reset your calendar for the Middle Ages. It should read around the year 1350 or so. During this time, personal clocks are not commonplace. In fact, they were very large. You might see them at cathedrals. Some do not have hands and a face. They are there to merely announce the hours of the day. You can see a bird clock if you go to France during the mid 1300s. At Strasbourg cathedral there is a large timepiece. A rooster flaps his wings and crows, for the hours. This is still a long ways from the odd little things that adorn so many homes today. However, you are getting closer.

Now come up to the seventeenth century. Mechanical cuckoos are appearing in Europe. They have been incorporated into clocks. It will not be too much longer, before they are made in greater numbers. It is becoming common knowledge among those that make time pieces.

These mechanisms appear in clocks in the early eighteenth century. By mid century it has made its way into the Black Forest area of Europe. There is no actual proof of how it starts. Most likely it is introduced by traders of goods. This area becomes famous for their clocks with little birds that announce the hours. In a relative short time, many are being manufactured. These items are becoming what people know of as cuckoo clocks.

This Black Forest area is often attributed as the origin of little birds that tell the hour. Although this is not true, they become refined and produced here. There are several tales of their invention and introduction to the world. None can be proven. However, they make very interesting reading.

In time, these items take on their familiar look and shape. They appear in the form of a house. There is the face and hands that tell the time. Above them is a little door where the bird comes out. Every hour, this bird announces the time. At one o’clock it will sing one time, and so on. This area in Europe still makes these items. They constantly improve and refine their workings. You can buy ones that also play music. Some are battery powered with quartz movements.

Summary

The modern day cuckoo clock has been around for over one thousand years. Over time, it evolves into the delightful items that hangs on millions of walls today. The next time you hear the little bird, remember how long he travels through time. It has been a long and incredible journey.

You can shop for cuckoo clocks at Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks. Prefer a more modern wall clock? Digital Wall Clocks has wall clocks ranging from atomic to retro to digital to funny.

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