Last year at this time I was in Cologne, Germany brushing up on the latest trends in office furniture and traipsing from shop to shop in amazement of the number of wooden cuckoo clocks they manage to affix to every wall. Even after multiple trips I’ve never brought a single one back home—the traditional, intricate designs (jagdstck and bahnhusle styles, if we want to get nitpicky), while delightful, just don’t seem to be a good fit.
Luckily manufacturers appear to be just as taken with the tiny chirping bird as I am—everyone from Urban Outfitters and Design Within Reach has a take on the classic design. The latter’s Cuckoo Clock is certified by the Black Forest Clock Association of Germany, which means that the clock is designed by one of about 150 clock designers in the world (in this case the designer, Ingolf Haas, is chairman of the organization) that adhere to a number of strict criteria, including that the clock be purely mechanical (no batteries or cords) and must be entirely produced in Germany’s Black Forest region.
The pared-back white timepiece (1) does away with most of the frill of its predecessors, with the exception of the bright red bird and A-frame form ($700). Progetti‘s Cucu Chic (2) also eschews most of the traditional adornments—all that remains on this one is the bird, which pops out of a high-gloss painted wood box ($465). The same manufacturer used the inspiration a few times actually—their rectangular painted wood Cucufficio clock (3) looks almost like a magazine filing box and doubles as a bookend ($455, both available at Bergo). But if it’s the ornate aesthetic that makes the cuckoo appealing, the Anika clock (4) is essentially an all-white wood and plastic version of the original, complete with a moose head crowning the rooftop ($225, available at Rolo).
The classic look is also in full swing (no surprise, with Mad Men furniture, clothes and booze sweeping the nation). Karlsson’s Big Flip clock and calendar (5), for example, channels black and white movies as well as old-timey train stations with its analogue display. The 43 by 43 centimetre black and white face comes in white or silver casing ($330, available at Morba). Nuevo Living‘s Ves Clock (6) features a simple face reminiscent of public school portables, with a wooden casing ($380, available at Urban Mode). And the Plywood Clock 04 (7) by Toyoshi Mori for Lemnos is so simple, I don’t have anything else to say about it ($100, available at Neat).
I can’t possibly complete a round-up of clocks without mentioning some of the quirky designs that evade category, like 100 Percent’s Sun Clock (8), which features a tiny circular sun that rotates around the face once every 24 hours, and changes colour depending on the time of day ($54, available at Cubeshops). And the Landmark Clock (9), which offers individual hands for up to eight different cities in the shape of their landmark, including the Statue of Liberty for New York, the Eiffel Tower for Paris and the Christ the Redeemer statue for Rio ($75, available at Up To You). Plus, the brown-on-brown Moustache Clock (10), “perfect for the man cave,” according to manufacturer Kikkerland ($10, available at Rolo).
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Paige Magarrey is a regular writer on design for Toronto Standard.
