I need help identifying this cuckoo. Please help.

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:28 pm     Post subject: I need help identifying this cuckoo. Please help.

My aunt is cleaning out her house and she asked me to find some info on this clock.
If you know anything i would appreciate the sharing of your knowledge.

I do not know very much about this clock. We know it is pre-1980's because that's when she got it.

follow this link to view the high def photos.

https://picasaweb.google.com/kylecarrilloTX/CuckooClock?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOOu5L6anMeXgwE&feat=directlink

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 6:35 pm     Post subject:

the style is a hunter cuckoo clock.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:22 pm     Post subject:

It is indeed a hunter style cuckoo with a 3 weight movement but that is about all one can glean from external photos. It probably has 2 cuckoos and either "chimes" on the quarter hour or plays a cuckoo melody on the half hour and hour rather than a simple single "cuckoo" on the half hour and an hour count "cuckoo" on the hour. From the appearance of the hands, it may have hung in a smoker's house for a long time or the plastic hands have yellowed with age if it is very old.

If you remove the little door on the back of the clock, you will find some writing on the back of the movement. It may be something like "Regula" with a number like "25" and maybe some other stampings. If you can take a high res. photo of that movement showing the detail of the back of the mechanism, it may help in giving you more information on the clock.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:47 pm     Post subject: Thanks

You are right, this comes from a smokers house. My uncle loved cigars. As for a photo of the back i will have to find a ladder and snap that picture.
Thank you for the info.

With just the pics I have could you possibly tell me what it might be worth? Working or not working?

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:55 pm     Post subject: Are you sitting down??

Kyle,

Cuckoo clocks are not very unique in the clock world, in my opinion, they are mostly built on the same basic mechanism and are things that tourists like to bring back with them from a visit to the "Black Forest" or other parts of Germany, again in my own personal opinion. For that reason, I would not say that most cuckoos are worth much as a valuable timepiece or as an heirloom or antique.

I work on them but I don't put much faith in them as a dependable timepiece as most of the separate workings are screwed into the soft wood case at odd places and connected with wires or levers or short lengths of chain and many of them have plastic gears operating some of the crucial parts of the operation that I call the "show and entertainment" part of the movement.

Maybe I'd better let someone who has a better opinion of cuckoo clocks make some kind of judgement call for you. But you still should take a photo of the back of the brass movement part of the clock (through that little door I discussed earlier) to get an idea of what brand the movement is and how it is rigged up to play what it plays.