A Visit to the Fantastic German Clock Museum in Furtwangen

With over 8,000 objects from around the world the German Clock Museum is a fascinating journey into the history of time. Housed in Furtwangen, the museum’s emphasis is focused on the important contributions to time keeping made in the Black Forest area. Appropriately the Cuckoo Clock Carrier greats the visitor to the Museum.

The Deutsches Uhrenmuseum chronicles man’s efforts at keeping track of time from the first attempts, sundials, on through to modern day.

The collection tells the story of the cuckoo clock, from its wood-geared predecessors, to the advent of the pendulum, shield clocks, and on to the clock we know as the cuckoo clock today.

There are lots of examples of lovely shield type clocks with fabulous hand painting.

Note the cuckoo on the clock on the left and the cow on the right.

According to the history of the cuckoo clock on the Museum’s web site, the first mention of a cuckoo clock was in 1619 in Dresden. We don’t know who made the first cuckoo clock in the Black Forest or when, but one of the treasures in the museum’s collection is a clock by Johannes Wildi that dates to 1780-1790.

Now that’s a backpack! I’m interested to dig deeper into the traveling clock salesmen who ventured by foot with their wares, within Germany and far and wide. They carried faces and parts. Did they put clocks together on the fly?

Check out these mini clocks! They make a great collection, just like… fast forward a century or more…

Other Fun Clocks at the Deutches Uhrenmuseum

Oh yes, these Mid Century wall clocks! They’re great alone, but oh my, how simply marvelous as a collection! I posted a photo on the Mid Century Kitcsh page on Facebook and at least one person responded that she has one of the clocks with the timer.

This clock had to grow right out of the forest floor. The Black Forest is enchanted after all!

I highly recommend a visit to the museum. Allow a good hour. And if you go in August, you can also visit the antique clock market which appears to be much like a flea market for antique clocks and watches. What fun!

~Jodie