Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks

Known for its harsh winters, its many local artisans, and an abundance of hard woods unique to the area, Triberg in the Black Forest is the prime location for the production of cuckoo clocks. Even today, most of the world’s supply of cuckoo clocks still comes from Germany, mostly from the Black Forest area. There are imitators out there but beware – if it’s not from Germany or Austria it may not be a high quality, hand-carved cuckoo clock.

Today there are over 100 small companies in the area that are licensed to manufacture cuckoo clocks. The business has evolved from a winter months’ activity to a full time, year round endeavor. In fact, most of the original farms of the area have stopped producing grains and vegetables because the farmers are too busy harvesting the prized Linden wood for the manufacturing of cuckoo clocks. Only a few of these companies are large enough to sell their products overseas, and so only a few names, such as Dold, Schneider, Herr, Jaeger, Hermle and Schwab have achieved international fame as quality cuckoo clock craftsmen. Each of these companies, named after the artist who originally founded them, is known around the world as quality producers of cuckoo clocks.

Now Anton Schneider & Sons, the company founded in 1848 by Anton Schneider is in its sixth generation of Schneiders. The company employs only the most skilled craftsmen working, many of whom have been in with their company for several generations, and some of whom have worked there as long as forty years. The warehouse in Schonach, Germany is not only known for the quality of timekeeping in their cuckoo clocks, but also for the artistic nature of the individual pieces. Schneider cuckoo clocks are prized for their music and dancing figures as well as for larger, more intricate moving scenes. Their production has surpassed more than 300 different mechanical models to date, all of which carry their imprint on the clock dial.

Probably the most famous seller of cuckoo clocks is the German

company River City Cuckoo Clocks. While American distributors sometimes use the name River City, the original company is located in the Black Forest of Germany and serves as a one-stop wholesaler for many different brands of cuckoo clocks, of only the highest quality produced in the area.

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