Educate me: How to Buy a cuckoo clock on the Rhine River Getaway

[BeeSkip]

Hello...I  need to be educated  on cuckoo clocks?  Where is the best place to buy one?  What features are important?  What should I expect to pay?  I want to buy one for my grand daughters...I want it to be a fun one for them.  I know nothing about these clocks except that they are from Germany.

 

Thanks

 

Bee

[sharkster77]

We purchased one from the Hotguf Sternen (the shop you will be visiting) website after we had gotten home.  There was a lot we could do at that site (cuckoo clock talk, black forest cake demo, glassblowing demo, a hike in the Black forest) that we didn't want to rush the process.

 

On the website you can look at all the options, like 1-day vs 8-day wind, dancing figures vs none, level of intricacy of the carvings, etc.  There are sound files you can listen to of the music. 

[Canal archive]

Decide on your price range (this will rise when you see the clocks)then as it’s for your grandchildren do you want them to wind it etc., then make sure you can get it shipped, even from the U.K. this is a must. The next decision is standard or exquisite craftsmanship, is this going to be an heirloom or a just while their young. I know but we eventually went for basically bog standard that our grandson could enjoy and now he’s looking forward to travelling to the Black Forest. Did we do right in the end it’s costing us heaps more as the whole family has decided oh what a great idea so we will all be going, when I don’t know but as I said it’s decided!

[steamboats]

Be aware that most of them are made in China... For a real German one you have to pay a real high price...

 

steamboats

[Canal archive]

Whoops forgot that little fact thanks steamboats.

[notamermaid]

Perhaps this is helpful to get the genuine thing:

http://www.black-forest.org/

 

Outside of the Black Forest it is not that easy to get good cuckoo clocks from the region. You would need to spend a bit of time trying to find a shop that sells high quality ones. If it is a souvenir that you want to bring home rather purchase it online or have it shipped from the shop you bought it at, enquire if you can put it in the carry-on in with you on the plane, rather than in a suitcase that could get rerouted or lost.

 

notamermaid

 

[sharkster77]

The clock we ordered from Hotguf Sternen, the place Viking brings you to , is labeled made in Germany.  It shipped to the US for what we thought was a reasonable cost.  We assumed that would be the better option than trying to carve out space for it in our luggage---not a small trinket!!

 

There were some folks who ordered on site and had the clock shipped home, but as I mentioned in my original post, we didn't want to spend our limited time there dealing with an order.  Besides, when Viking buses pull up, any place gets super-busy super-fast!

[DougK]

This is a little off-topic, and won't help the OP since I don't think Viking takes you to Triberg, but I would highly recommend Oli's Schnitzstuben in Triberg to anybody interested in cuckoo clocks. After Scenic cancelled our Rhine/Moselle cruise this spring, we decided to just do a land-based vacation in Europe instead, visiting some of the same areas. I was interested in getting a cuckoo clock from the Black Forest, so we spent a day in Triberg. It's a lovely town anyway, with Germany's highest waterfall (I think), and we also unexpectedly happened to be there on the day of a Tracht (traditional costume) parade. But the search for a cuckoo clock was the main reason for our visit, and I didn't come away disappointed. The big traffic goes to the House of 1000 Clocks, and that's certainly a fine place to look at a variety of clocks, and get an explanation of various options. But if you go just a little further up the street, there's a far less prominent store, where Oli and a couple of other people still hand carve their clocks. They may not be as glitzy as the factory-produced ones, and they cost somewhat more--but not outrageously so. The upside is that you get an individual piece, some of which are unlike clocks I've seen anywhere else. And some are literally unique designs, where you'll end up with a clock that nobody else has. I was lucky enough to find one of those that I fell in love with (picture attached). And it's extra special to meet and talk with the person who carved the clock and can tell you some of the back story...

[Canal archive]

That is simply - WoW what a beautiful clock the workmanship looks amazing, well done for finding the shop and the clock. (I want one!)

[ljandgb]

Gorgeous clock!

 

Also off topic, but pertains to what kids pick up.  My daughter, at 13, had to take a "what geography do you know" test, and one of the questions was "what country is the Black Forest located in?"  She remembered cuckoo clocks were associated with the Black Forest and that she had seen cuckoo clocks in the Germany pavilion at Epcot, so Black Forest must be in Germany.

 

Exposure of any sort to these things sinks in in ways that still surprise me with kids!  I grew up with a cuckoo clock my parents had brought back from Germany.  I loved it.