The Clock Road

In the region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extends the Black Forest, a huge forest area, part of two nature parks, that owes its name to the dense fir forest that grows at high altitudes: with its succession of hills, green pastures, dense forests and valleys with streams, small lakes and water sources, it is a true paradise for those who love to immerse themselves in nature.

Approximately 320 km long, the Deutsche Uhrenstraße (German Clock Road) is a long circular route that touches several villages where cuckoo clocks are the flagship of local craftsmanship. The route starts and ends in Villingen-Schwenningen, where it is possible to visit one of the world's most beautiful clock museums) and gives the opportunity to discover the stories connected with time and those involved in measuring it. The route also touches on other smaller points such as Titisee-Neustadt, St. Märgen, Furtwangen, Triberg, Schnoach, Hornberg, Rottweil and many others, totalling more than 30 towns.
In addition to passing through wooded areas, where these small villages nestle in a spectacular natural landscape, the road allows tourists to get to know all the secrets behind the design and manufacture of the cuckoo clocks that are said to have been invented in this region of Germany.

Just to mention a few examples, it is in Triberg that you will find the famous Eber Clock, the giant cuckoo clock that is said to be the largest in the world. Built in five years by Ewald Eble and his son Ralf, it has a 150-kilo cuckoo clock 4 metres high. Its wooden leaf-shaped pendulum weighs about 100 kilos and is 8 metres long. It rivals this specimen, the village clock in Schonach: not only is it as big as a house, but you can even go inside it! The inside of the clock can in fact be visited for a small fee and offers the opportunity to observe the gears and thus the workings of this truly enchanting type of mechanism up close.

The Clock Road winds its way through the characteristic workshops and artisan laboratories where clocks of all types and shapes are made, and still today one can admire the master clockmakers at work, engaged in their daily work. The factories and workshops of the dial designers are the ideal place to watch the craftsmen at work. Walking along this magical path, one discovers how watchmaking has shaped the Black Forest and how its imprint is still alive today.

Surveillance clocks, grandfather clocks and musical clocks, set in paintings and frames, sundials and atomic clocks, as well as pendulums, kitchen clocks and two-bell alarm clocks, right up to modern quartz and radio-controlled clocks, populate the long street and mark the time of visitors, collectors and enthusiasts waiting for the hours to strike.

But when did the romantic, fairytale version of the cuckoo clock we know originate?

It was in this region of Germany, around 1630, that farmers who had a piece of land too small to support themselves began to make wooden clocks. They did this during the long cold months with a passion for a material that was the only abundant resource, resulting in priceless and highly sought-after masterpieces. The first wooden clock was built in 1667 in the German town of Waldau, and since then countless modifications have been made to it.

Years later, the first cuckoo clock was added to the mechanism. Perhaps to reproduce the sweet sound that echoed from the surrounding woods or to delight some children.

At the beginning it was no easy task, but by the 18th century the Black Forest clocks merchants had branches on four continents and the characteristic wooden bird chimed the passing of the hours in much of the world.