A Grandfather Cuckoo Clock!

Here’s a clock I’d never seen before – a grandfather cuckoo clock. It is 83 inches tall and 30 1/2 inches wide. The minute hand is 4 11/16 inches long.

The case is highly carved. It has pine tree carvings on each side of the front, a squirrel in the trees below the dial, a thatched roof, and at the bottom, a mother bear watching her cubs. A cuckoo bird comes out and cuckoos the hour and half-hour. After the hour cuckoo, a very rich-sounding 72 note music box plays 1 of 3 tunes while the dancers turn in the balcony. The label on the back says “Dold Esquisit GmbH”, and another label gives the names of the 3 tunes.

This clock is about 30 years old. The same clock is sold today, but with a simplified movement. The new ones don’t cuckoo or have the wonderful music box, but instead have Westminster, Whittington or St. Michael chimes like a standard grandfather clock.

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Repair job 7234. The movement is a Kieninger from Germany. It is a grandfather clock movement modified so that the strike train runs the music box, and the chime train does the cuckoo.The heaviest weight goes on the left (for the cuckoo) and the lightest weight goes on the right (for the music).

I polished the pivots and installed 6 bushings. The parts that move the cuckoo bird out and in needed polishing, as some parts were rough from the factory. The main point in getting the cuckoo bird to go out and in with no friction is to position the rod that carries the bird so that it “floats” in the hole of the guide bracket.  If it rests on the bottom of the hole, the cuckoo train will stall.


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6 comments

  1. I am selling this exact clock. Purchased it when we lived in England. Works perfectly.

  2. In the late 70s the Master.carver would come to the Vogelweh Bazaar and you could watch him carve these, they were made by Dold and sold at Dold Exquisite Black.forest clock shops, now out of business. Husband worked there from 98 to 01, says they sold for around 8k depending on the style Believe the family to still be in Triberg, perhaps a trip is in order to see if they will repair your clock. Just saw one for sale online in CA for 21k

  3. We just saw one very similar to this that was listed for $13,000.00. Do you know what the value of this clock is? How much would it retail new and what would a used/resale market price bring? Do you know if they still make these new? We think they are absolutely magnificent.

    Thanks for the input.
    Cheers,
    Dale Leake

  4. I have this exact clock. I bought it here in Germany 20 years ago and am now back in Germany with it. Currently I am trying to find someone in the Kaiserslautern area that can preform a proper service on it. Thanks for posting this.

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