Traditional cuckoo clocks come in two styles or movements: one-day running time, which needs a wind-up once a day, and eight-day running time, which only needs to be wound once a week. What makes a cuckoo clock unique is the cuckoo sound it makes! The cuckoo calls on the hour and sometimes on the half-hour, and the weights help the in and out movements of the bird. If you are having trouble with your cuckoo call, you can see our troubleshooting guide on how to fix it.
You can get a clock that plays music and has objects or people that dance around at the call. If you buy a musical cuckoo clock, it will have three weights instead of two. The third weight is what drives the musical component of the clock. These are not typically found in Original Black Forest clocks although many manufacturers have added quartz clocks to offer a larger variety in their products.
Normally copies of cuckoo clocks will contain quartz movement. There are several inexpensive Asian copies of cuckoo clocks with this type of movement, although they could never be compared to the quality and craftsmanship of an original Black Forest clock. All the quartz cuckoo clocks that we offer have a high quality that are comparable to the original mechanical clocks from the Black Forest.
As well as movement types, there are also two main styles of cuckoo clocks and all manufacturers offer both styles. First is the Chalet style cuckoo clocks. There are many details and very interesting movements that characterize the Chalet Cuckoo Clock. The Chalet Cuckoo Clock normally depicts a scene of everyday life. Many have handmade and hand laid shingles on the roofs and feature details such as dancers, beer drinkers and wood choppers as well as beautifully carved animals and turning water wheels.
The other style of cuckoo clocks are the traditionally Carved Cuckoo Clocks. These clocks normally depict scenes of nature or hunting. They have beautifully detailed carved birds, deer, eagles, leaves or owls. Both styles of Black Forest cuckoo clocks are highly popular and equally loved around the world and both lend a look of elegance and awe inspiring beauty to every home that has one. Each mechanical cuckoo clock from the Black Forest holds the famous cuckoo call that make them all so unique.
The sound of the cuckoo's call is not generated electronically. It is produced completely by the clock's movement. On a technical scale, the sound is created by two air chambers or bellows. Air is filled into the chambers and squeezed out through a type of whistle. The first bellow produces the first syllable of the sound or the "cu" and the second bellow creates the second syllable or the "cukoo". Many of the original Black Forest cuckoo clocks feature hand carved cuckoo birds. Some models also feature cuckoos that have moving wings when they call.
The cuckoo sound is also included in the quartz movement clocks, although the sound in these models is produced electronically or is tape recorded. Many cuckoo clocks play music as well as featuring the cuckoo sound. Many collectors around the world find the music to be an essential part of their decision to purchase a cuckoo clock.
The clocks normally play two different melodies. The musical movement in these styles of cuckoo clocks is very important. Although all musical movements are of the highest quality, the number of tones will vary between 18 and Normally the higher the amount of tones, the better the sound quality will be.
Clocks with 8-Day movements will play music on each hour while clocks with the 1-Day movements will play music on each half hour as well as on the full hour.
Musical cuckoo clocks with the quartz movement will normally play music on each hour and will include up to twelve different melodies in each model. Many cuckoo clocks from the Black Forest region feature beautifully hand carved dancing figures. Cuckoo clocks with dancing figures or dancing couples are very highly popular. Clocks that feature these figures will normally have them located below the cuckoo. The dancers will turn when the music plays. There are many types and styles of dancing figures.
Some clocks have dancing couples while others feature Black Forest couples or children. Those that are hand carved and painted may be a bit more expensive, but they are much more authentic which, in turn, makes them more valuable. Genuine Black Forest cuckoo clocks have other moving elements besides the figures.
We recommend you hang your clock approximately seven feet high in a windless spot. After hanging your clock on the wall, open the paper package on the bottom, which holds the chains for the drive mechanism. Remove the wire threaded through the chain links. Next, carefully place the weights into the provided hooks. On some clocks, this switch is located on the side. Others have a black wire loop that hangs below. Push the pendulum once, and your clock is fully operational.
Please listen closely to the swing of the pendulum. Check if it swings to the right in the same amount of time as it does to the left. If this is not the case, carefully adjust the clock's position on the wall until the tick-tock of the pendulum becomes regular.
Also, check if your clock is hanging straight, visually. If it is not, but the tick-tock of the pendulum is regular, the pendulum was most likely bent during the unwrapping process. There is a small adjustment to the pendulum wire that will correct the problem. The pendulum wire is the wire on which the pendulum hangs, located in the long hold on the bottom of the body. If your clock hangs too much to the left, take a wide screwdriver and bend the pendulum wire slightly to the left.
If the clock is hanging too much to the right visually — but the pendulum is ticking regularly — slightly bend the pendulum wire to the right. Your cuckoo clock should now function faultlessly. If this is not the case, check to see if the hands are touching each other by turning the minute hand clockwise. If this is the case and they are touching, then your clock will always stop working when the two hands meet each hour.
To fix the problem, simply push the smaller hour hand toward the clock face. You can adjust the accuracy of the pendulum by sliding the pendulum bulb up and down. If your clock is slow, slide the bulb up a little. If your clock is fast, slide the bulb down. Now your cuckoo clock should function perfectly.
The paper around the chains — as well as the security wire — should be removed and the weights mounted. Check you have removed the clips from both pipes and the security paper from the coil wire.
Make sure the pendulum is hanging free to move in the wire loop. Position the bird-lifting wire underneath the cuckoo figurine. Make sure the wire lifting the bellows is attached to the bellows correctly. If you have bought a clock with a turn-off switch for the sound, you need to make sure it is turned on. If the music of the music box does not stop playing automatically after the call of the cuckoo but continues to play, there's a problem with the bent brass lever that cannot grip the hole on the side of the walls correctly, which would stop the music.
Use a caliper to bend the brass lever so it can grip the hole and, therefore, stop the music. If the release force on the brass lever is too large, then the clockwork cannot start the music. There's a white rubber stopper on the lever that you should push approximately 1 32nd of an inch downwards. If the end of the wire that grips into the fan fly is bent, there are three possible results: The wire does not release the fan fly after the cuckoo calls, so the music is not activated The wire touches the fan fly and the impact causes a chattering sound The wire does not hold the fan fly and the music plays at the same time the cuckoo calls.
The wire should then be bent into a position where it does not touch the fan fly while inactive but prevents the music box turning before and while the cuckoo is calling. Gravity slowly pulls down the chain, activating the pendulum. This moves back and forth each second and makes the familiar "tick-tock" sound. The chain is wrapped around a gear that moves the internal gears.
As the pendulum swings, the gears shift. One chain controls the time, while the second one is in charge of the cuckoo bird. If it is a musical cuckoo clock, there will be a third weight for the music box. You will see those chains coming out from the bottom of the clock. As the hour passes, they slowly descend downward. After they reach the floor, you need to pull them back up.
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