Editing Cuckoo clock (section)

===''Bahnhäusle'' style, a successful design from Furtwangen===
[[File:Eisenl2.png|thumb|right|Left: Design of a railway-house cuckoo clock by Friedrich Eisenlohr, 1850–1851. Right: Clock (without cuckoo bird) based on Eisenlohr's original design, by Kreuzer, Glatz & Co., Furtwangen, 1853–1854. Presented to the [[Grand Duke of Baden]]<ref name="Johannes Graf-2"/> (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Inv. 2003–081)]]

In September 1850, the first director of the [[Grand Duchy of Baden]] Clockmakers School in [[Furtwangen]], [[Robert Gerwig]], launched a public competition to submit designs for modern clockcases, which would allow homemade products to attain a professional appearance.

[[Friedrich Eisenlohr]] (1805–1854), who as an architect had been responsible for creating the buildings along the then new and first Badenese Rhine valley railway, submitted the most far-reaching design.<ref>The credit for first discovering Eisenlohr's original design goes to Herbert Jüttemann. See Herbert Jüttemann, ''Die Schwarzwalduhr'', 4th ed. (Karlsruhe, 2000): p. 242.</ref> Eisenlohr enhanced the facade of a standard railroad-guard's residence, as he had built many of them, with a clock dial. His "Wallclock with shield decorated by ivy vines",<ref>''Verzeichniss der von Künstlern und Kunstfreunden, der Ghz. Uhrenmacherschule, zugekommenen Entwürfe, zu Uhr-Schilden und Gehäusen (List of the Designs submitted by artists and friends of the arts to the Furtwangen Clockmaking School for 1850-51)''. Undated manuscript (probably 1851 or 1852) (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum Furtwangen, Archive)</ref> (in reality the ornament were grapevines and not ivy) as it is referred to in a surviving, handwritten report from the Clockmakers School from 1851 or 1852, became the prototype of today's popular souvenir cuckoo clocks.<ref>Johannes Graf, ''The Black Forest Cuckoo Clock. A Success Story''. NAWCC Bulletin, December 2006: p. 648.</ref>

Eisenlohr was also up-to-date stylistically. He was inspired by local images; rather than copying them slavishly, he modified them. Contrary to most present-day cuckoo clocks, his case features light, unstained wood and were decorated with symmetrical, flat fretwork ornaments. His idea became an instant hit, because the modern design of the ''Bahnhäusle'' clock appealed to the decorating tastes of the growing bourgeoisie and thereby tapped into new and growing markets.<ref>Johannes Graf, ''The Black Forest Cuckoo Clock. A Success Story''. NAWCC Bulletin, December 2006: p. 649.</ref> 
[[File:Bahnhäulse cuckoo clock with painting, 1861.jpeg|thumb|right|''Bahnhäusle'' style sample cuckoo clock (not a complete piece, just a case without a movement) with a painted tin plate depicting a ''Vogelfänger'' ("bird catcher") waiting in vain for the cuckoo, 1861 (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Inv. 18–0224).  
The design for the painting was commissioned by the Grand Duchy of Baden Clockmakers School, same as the case. The School commissioned professional designs from artists in the region, which the clockmakers could then reproduce free of charge.]]
While the Clockmakers School was satisfied to have Eisenlohr's clock case sketches, they were not fully realized in their original form. Eisenlohr had proposed a wooden facade; Gerwig preferred a painted metal front combined with an enamel dial. But despite intensive campaigns by the Clockmakers School, sheet metal fronts decorated with oil paintings (or coloured lithographs) never became a major market segment because of the high cost and labour-intensive process,<ref name="Johannes Graf-2">Johannes Graf, ''The Black Forest Cuckoo Clock. A Success Story''. In: NAWCC Bulletin, December 2006: p. 649.</ref> hence they were only produced from the 1850s until around 1880, whether wall or mantel versions.

Characteristically, the makers of the first ''Bahnhäusle'' clocks deviated from Eisenlohr's sketch in only one way: they left out the cuckoo mechanism. Unlike today, the design with the little house was not synonymous with a cuckoo clock in the first years after 1850. This is another indication that at that time cuckoo clocks could not have been an important market segment.<ref name="Johannes Graf-2"/>

Only in December 1854, [[Johann Baptist Beha]], the best known maker of cuckoo clocks of his time, sold two of them, with oil paintings on their fronts, to the Furtwangen clock dealer Gordian Hettich, which were described as ''Bahnhöfle Uhren'' ("railway station clocks").<ref>Wilhelm Schneider "Frühe Kuckucksuhren von Johann Baptist Beha aus Eisenbach im Hochschwarzwald" (Remembering the design of a genius. 150 years of Bahnhaeusle clocks), ''Alte Uhren und moderne Zeitmessung'', No. 3 (1987): pp. 45–53, here p. 51.</ref> More than a year later, on 20 January 1856, another respected Furtwangen-based cuckoo clockmaker, [[Theodor Ketterer]], sold one to Joseph Ruff in [[Glasgow]].

Concurrently with Beha and Ketterer, other [[Black Forest]] clockmakers must have started to equip ''Bahnhäusle'' clocks with cuckoo mechanisms to satisfy the rapidly growing demand for this type of clock. Starting in the mid-1850s there was a real boom in this market. For example, numerous exhibitors at the trade exhibition in [[Villingen]] in 1858 offered cuckoo clocks in the ''Bahnhäuschenkasten'' or ''Bahnwartshaus''.
<ref name="blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de-2017">{{Cite web |url=https://blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de/2017/07/27/bahnhaeusle1/|publisher=blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de|title=Das Bahnhäusle – ein Jahrhundertdesign aus Furtwangen (Teil 1) (The Bahnhäusle – a design of the century from Furtwangen (Part 1))|language=de|date=2017-07-27|access-date=2022-08-07}}</ref> And in the annual report of the Furtwangen Clockmakers School of 1857/58 is stated: "The cuckoo clock therefore found a very special market again as soon as the ''Bahnhäuschen'', which was so very suitable for it, was used as a clock case."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://beckassets.blob.core.windows.net/product/readingsample/12214683/9783806227970_excerpt_001.pdf|title=Kuckucksuhr, mon amour|language=de|date=2013|access-date=2022-08-13}}</ref>

By 1862, Johann Baptist Beha started to enhance his richly decorated ''Bahnhäusle'' clocks with hands carved from [[bone]] and weights cast in the shape of fir cones.<ref>As per Wilhelm Schneider, who had a chance to examine the account books of Beha. See Wilhelm Schneider, "Frühe Kuckucksuhren von Johann Baptist aus Eisenbach im Hochschwarzwald" (Early cuckoo clocks by Johann Baptist Beha of Eisenbach in the high Black Forest). ''Alte Uhren und moderne Zeitmessung''. No 3 (1987): pp. 45–53, here p. 52.</ref> Even today this combination of elements is characteristic for cuckoo clocks, although the hands are usually made of wood or plastic, white celluloid was employed in the past too. As for the weights, there was during this second half of the 19th century, a few models which featured weights cast in the shape of a [[Gnome]] and other curious forms.

Thanks to Eisenlohr's design, the cuckoo clock became one of the most successful Black Forest products within a few years. In a report on the exhibition of local products at the [[1873 Vienna World's Fair]], Karl Schott, the then head of the ''Furtwanger Landesgewerbehalle'' (Furtwangen State Trade Hall), wrote "that today the cuckoo clock is one of the most sought-after clocks in the Black Forest".<ref name="blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de-2017"/> At the time of the Vienna exhibition, cuckoo clocks were not only sold on the German domestic market, but in many regions of the world. The main export countries in Europe were [[Switzerland]], [[England]], [[Russia]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Schott also named overseas sales in his 1873 report: [[North America]], [[Mexico]], [[South America]], [[Australia]], [[India]], [[Japan]], [[China]] and even the [[Sandwich Islands]] (Hawaii).<ref name="blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de-2017a">{{Cite web |url=https://blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de/2017/08/03/bahnhaeusle-2/|publisher=blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de|title=Das Bahnhäusle – ein Jahrhundertdesign aus Furtwangen (Teil 2) (The Bahnhäusle – a design of the century from Furtwangen (Part 2))|language=de|date=2017-08-03|access-date=2022-08-07}}</ref> 
[[File:Cuckooo clocks Beha catalogue, ca. 1895.jpeg|thumb|right|C. 1895 [[Johann Baptist Beha|Beha]] catalogue showing three different models. The one at left, in the ''Bahnhäusle'' style. The other two, profusely decorated with wood carvings, are evolutions from the original ''Bahnhäusle''. These are usually known today as "carved".]]
By 1860, the ''Bahnhäusle'' style had started to develop away from its original, "severe" graphic form, and evolved toward the well-known case with three-dimensional woodcarvings, like the ''Jagdstück'' ("hunt piece", design created in [[Furtwangen]] in 1861), a cuckoo clock with a carved oak foliage and hunting motives, such as trophy animals, guns and powder pouches.<ref>Schneider 1987, p. 51. ''(Within a short time more orders for hunt pieces are recorded, specifically on October 30, November 7 and November 26, 1861.)''</ref> Only ten years after its invention by Friedrich Eisenlohr, all variations of the house-theme had reached maturity. ''Bahnhäusle'' timepieces and its variations were also available as a mantel clock, but not as many compared to the wall version.

These ornate timepieces were not made by one clockmaker only, otherwise such a complex product could not have been produced at acceptable prices. There were numerous specialists who assisted the clockmakers. In 1873, Karl Schott reported on the division of labour at the Vienna Exhibition: "The birds are mostly carved and painted by women. The pipes are made by a pipe maker. In addition to a number of master craftsmen, there are also a number of large companies involved in the manufacture of cuckoo clocks, and the cuckoo clock maker rarely makes them himself. Rather, he obtains the movements, reworks them with precision, attaches the bellows and pipes and thus puts the finished movement in the case."<ref name="blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de-2017a"/>

The division of labour meant that different clockmakers purchased completely identical parts from the same suppliers. Therefore, small components in particular, such as hands or dials, showed a tendency towards standardization. But it also happened from time to time that movements from different manufacturers were found in cases that looked the same on the outside, simply because they came from the same case maker.<ref name="blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de-2017a"/>

The basic cuckoo clock of today is the railway-house (''Bahnhäusle'') form, still with its rich ornamentation, and these are known under the name of "carved", "classic" or "traditional"; which display carved leaves, birds, deer heads (''Jagdstück'' design), other animals, etc. The richly decorated ''Bahnhäusle'' clocks have become a symbol of the Black Forest that is instantly understood anywhere in the world.

The cuckoo clock became successful and world-famous after Friedrich Eisenlohr contributed the ''Bahnhäusle'' design to the 1850 competition at the Furtwangen Clockmakers School.<ref name="Johannes Graf"/>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Cuckoo and quail clock, ca. 1880.jpg|A carved cuckoo and [[quail]] clock, c. 1880 (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Inv. 07–2653)
File:Cuckoo clock, Gordian Hettich Sohn, Furtwangen.jpeg|Carved spring-driven, mantel clock with bone hands, Gordian Hettich Sohn, Furtwangen, c. 1870 (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum)
File:Cuckoo clock, Black Forest, ca. 1900.jpg|Carved wall timepiece, weight-driven, Black Forest, c. 1900. Carved cuckoo clocks evolved from the ''Bahnhäusle'' style (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Inv. 2006–015).
File:Cuckoo clock, Jacob Bäuerle Sohn, Furtwangen.jpg|Wood carvings composed of a vine with grapes, a bird on top, nest with eggs and parents and a matching pendulum bob (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum)
File:Cuckoo clock, ca. 1870.jpeg|Mantel clock with twisted columns and vines on their capitals, c. 1870 (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum)
File:Cuckoo clock, Black Forest, ca. 1870.jpg|Another variation from the ''Bahnhäusle'' style, here with Gothic motifs, c. 1880 (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Inv. 2012–036)
</gallery>