Dating your Vintage Cuckoo Clock
In part thanks to the durable nature of mechanical cuckoo clocks, there continue to be clocks on the market that are decades old.
When gifted with a family heirloom clock, dating it is easier, as it is a part of your family’s history. Not so with purchased clocks, as very often the dating of them will be more general than specific. Additionally, repairs and alterations to a clock may mean that your case is from a particular time period but your movement / bellows are not.
If you are lucky, the manufacturer stamped the production date on the back wood panel, that conceals the housing for the movement. Then your work is done.
In most cases however this was not considered essential and the back case cover is more likely to have a number—-often in pencil—that only matches the case to its cover.
The primary movement used in cuckoo clock manufacture is by the Regula Company. They do have production codes stamped on their movements that will give a three to four year range (1975 1995 2005 2025). This is helpful if you recognize enough about the design and origin of the clock to estimate its date.
As an example, many cuckoo clocks have a “Made in Germany” statement on their dial or back panel. Clocks stamped with “Made in West Germany,” will be manufactured before 1992.
One cuckoo clock manufacturer, Schmechenbecher, operated from 1948-1996. The movements manufactured for them sometimes were stamped with their name.
The Herbert Herr Company, recently closed it doors. They are somewhat unique for manufacturing their own movements as well as cases. They did not date stamp these movements but it is easy to tell you have one. Hubert Herr movements are mounted directly into the clock case and are not anchored to the clock with square shaped, wooden “feet,” like Regula movements.
Cuckoo clocks manufactured before the 1960s also had a different movement entirely. Called a “count wheel” cuckoo, this type of movement features an additional wheel on the movement, which regulated the number of cuckoo calls.
As you can probably tell, the story of dating your vintage cuckoo is a somewhat complicated and in exact “science.” What can be guaranteed however, is that a clock rebuilt by our company will certainly run like a new clock!