Posted 10 years ago
EZa
(41 items)
I acquired this giant Cuckoo about 30 years ago in a little town in Arizona at an antique store for about 65$. My dad has been storing it for me since then, and I finally put it up. He paid to have the internal works repaired in 87'. There are two cuckoos and doors at the front. There are 3 pinecone weights with the largest in center for the clock. The measurements are about 21 1/2"top to bottom and 17 1/4" side to side. There are 3 pinecones, and the largest is 7". Unfortunately I can only put up 4 photos. On bottom is 992 RA. On back panel are initials G H S it looks like with two more of those S shapes at upper left hand corner. Underneath it says Made in Germany which is nearly worn off. It runs unreliably so far, but cuckoos on both sides and strikes the back panel. I'm sitting back and observing how it runs for a while.....but what a beautiful piece of work this is!
Double birdie very cool.
beautiful piece,..nice thing about a big one like that is you can get some decent clock oil and get a lil drop on every pivot (axle) you can find,..also pendulum clocks are picky about being level,..get in close and listen to the tick tock ,..should be even,..if it isn't shift it a little till its even,..its an awesome clock and i think you got a good deal,..i love my cuckoo clocks heheeh . Also,..is there a music box in it? not sure why it has 3 weights
oops the oil i LOVE for my clocks is nanolube,..pretty much magic,.ive brought back to good runability a LOAD of thriftshop clocks with it,..and a little bottle will last seemingly forever
Thanks shawnicus, I never thought about clock oil or keeping it level. Great ideas! I was wondering if it did something else, it seems to have a third bellows? behind one of the other bellows, and related opening on the side. I assumed the big weight in the middle for the clock gears, and smaller weights for the cuckoo birds? Anyway, cuckoo clocks are fascinating!
Three gear train (weight or spring) clocks that I'm familiar with have one train for keeping time, one for quarterly chiming (or cuckoos), and a third for the hourly strike. Generally speaking, the heaviest weight (or strongest spring) drives the quarterly chime. They need a lot of torque because they have to drive the chiming mechanisms and still be geared to get a lot of mileage out of a single wind.
For every pivot you see on the back brass plate, there is another one on the front plate. In order to properly lubricate a clock's mechanism you'll need access to the front plate. That usually involves removing the mechanism from the case. Getting a Cuckoo Clock's movement re-installed and adjusted is not an easy thing for a beginner.
Everyone has their favorite oil. A good, basic clock oil is not expensive. I prefer Ney Synthetic Clock oil. I've also been experimenting with Mobil 1 Synthetic Engine Oil. If you attempt to oil your clock, use very small amounts! Over oiling is one of most common mistakes people make. Here's a good tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9YrBcKiHA4
Good luck with it and thanks for sharing.
there is a shortcut to the front of the movement,..on cuckoo clocks its easy to remove the hands,..small nut holds on the minit and the hour is just pushed on,..and the dial face is held on with just 3 or 4 small pins/nails,..if your gentle you can gently pry it off,..ans when it comes away you have access to the whole front of the movement,..yous is a pretty cool antique so i might have a clock person do it,..don't want to bust it trying to fix it,..specialy since there isn't much wrong with it,..shouldn't cost too much to get it oiled
How I love your clock, stunning!!!
Your clock is a cuckoo and quail. The quail sounds every quarter hour and the cuckoo sounds on the hour. The smallest bellows is the quail pipe. The GHS identifies your clock as made by Gordian Hettich Sons in the black forest. These clocks came with three weights all the same size. Perhaps someone has added a heavier weight because it won't work with the lesser weight. Means it needs cleaning, adjusting, repair. 1987 was a long time ago ! Usually four to five years between cleaning and lubricating. Cuckoo clocks suffer from dust because the case has many open holes other clocks don't have. Stay cuckoo........
OK, man I love CW! I was hoping someone could identify this clock, and you helped me out slackjack, shawnicus, and Bruce99. A lot of really great information and advice. I'm afraid to do too much to it, so I think I'll find a reputable clock person to clean and oil it. There is a lot going on in there. The weights are very lovely, too, so something to think about with the different sizes. A really neat treasure for sure. Thank you all.