The classical or traditional type includes two subgroups the carved ones, whose wooden cases are decorated with leaves, animals, etc., and a second one with cases in the shape of a chalet. Many are made in the 'traditional style', which are made to hang on a wall. The design of a cuckoo clock is now conventional. It has become a cultural icon of Germany. Today, the cuckoo clock is one of the favourite souvenirs of travellers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

It is thought that much of its development and evolution was made in the Black Forest area in southwestern Germany (in the modern state of Baden-Württemberg), the region where the cuckoo clock was popularized and from where it was exported to the rest of the world, becoming world-famous from the mid-1850s on. It is unknown who invented the cuckoo clock and where the first one was made. The mechanism to produce the cuckoo call has been in use since the middle of the 1700s and has remained almost without variation. Some move their wings and open and close their beaks while leaning forwards, whereas others have only the bird's body leaning forward. 2006-013Ī cuckoo clock is, typically, a pendulum clock that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Cuckoo clock, a so-called Jagdstück ('hunt piece'), Black Forest, c.

Black forest cuckoo clocks from germany