A Brief History of Cuckoo Clocks
The first Cuckoo clock dates back to around 1730. It was a product of the almost 100 years of clock making in the Black Forest of Germany that started sometime in the mid 17th century. Though there are a number stories of who built the first clock, Franz Anton Ketterer has been given the credit.
The first Cuckoo clocks were primitive compared to those made later. Their movements were made with wooden plates and gears. Many of the clocks had square faces painted with water color paints. As time went on, these beautiful wooden clocks became More
e and more sophisticated in their designs and decorations. The birds' wings and beaks were animated and some decorated with feathers. The many themes decorating the clocks were only limited to the imagination of the painters of the faces for the clocks. They included scenes of family, hunting, military motifs and more. Some were even decorated with porcelain columns and enameled dials.
Some of the more famous early cuckoo clock makers in the Black Forest were Theodore Ketterer, Johann Baptist Beha and Fidel Hepting.
By the late 1800s the cuckoo industry was some what industrialized. As well as factories where the clocks where made and assembled, Families would live and work together in large cottages, each individual working on the part of the clock they specialized in. Some hand carving the decorations, others assembling the movement and still others fitting movements in the cases. There were an estimated 13,500 men and women engaged in the clock making industry in the villages in and around Triberg.
