A Special Musical Clock by Emilian Wehrle

Fall is here, and as the weather cools we start to spend more time indoors. During the cold months we really pick up steam focusing on our collection of Black Forest clocks.Today as I was doing some "house keeping" dusting the collection... I thought of sharing this wonderful clock we have with you.

This fantastic clock has been in our care for many years.

Made C. 1874 this Singing Bird Clock (Singvogeluhr) by Emilian Wehrle of Furtwangen... is as impressive today as the day it was made.

The fully feathered bird is 6.5 inches from beak to tail. It is fully automated with movements in his beak, head, and tail.

Perched on the top of the clock on a carved vase of fruit and leaves, it is clearly visible and looks alive.

The carvings on this clock are all done in walnut, and the style of the case is very unique.

This clock utilizes a robust brass plate movement, with large double pumping bellow system mounted above the clock works (very similar to Wehrle's Trumpeter and Flute Clocks.)

The clock movement generates it own air pressure and by opening and closing a valve, air is moved through a large flute with a plunger. A cam wheel on the back operates the valve and the plunger to reproduce the sound of the song bird while controlling the bird and the Automation.

The beak runs in perfect sequence with the large song and boy does this bird look and sound alive!

This clock is featured in Emilian Wehrle's 1874 Catalog as No. 1 (see illustration). Originally, it cost of 180 Gold Marks in 1874. Just to put this into perspective, a very nice Beha cuckoo could be had for 25 marks.

Very few of these Singing Bird Clocks were made, even fewer survived. Making them almost impossible to locate today.

I am not aware of a museum worldwide that has a example of a Em. Wehrle Singing Bird Clock, although there are a few in private collections.

This unique clock was also published in the 2008 edition of Schwarzwalduhren, by Berthold Schaaf (The authoritative text on Black Forest Clocks, see sidebar for a list of other recommended reading and resources.)


Best,

Justin J. Miller

www.blackforestclocks.org

For more information on Singing Bird or Whistling Automata:

Article, Whistling Clock Peddler, Singing Birds in a Cage

...and here's a video of a modern "slide whistle" mechanism Justin describes above:

cuckoo

This is an antique cuckoo bird with moving wings... See our Gothic cuckoo and Long Bahnhäusle for new collectible clocks with this feature.

The finest carvings

Hand carving is a craft enjoyed by many.  You can go to any craft show or Boy Scout Jamboree and find some kind of whittled piece - it's one of the oldest forms of sculpture.

Like any craft, there are certain parts of the world and certain examples which raise the practice of wood carving from a Craft to an Art.  Black Forest carvers have consistently shown some of the world's most excellent wood carvings for over a hundred years.  Black Forest carvings have adorned many household objects - and they work especially well when they are featured on clocks.

You can see the fine and lifelike detail on the antique clocks shown in previous posts...  The delicate vines, leaves, and even the feathers on the birds' backs are incredibly real - almost as if, as in some Black Forest folkloric scenario, the bird itself was turned to wood after being caught by a lover's magic spell.

This is an art not completely lost by the passing of time.  The tradition is still carried on by guardians of the art, deep in the cold and dark valleys of the Black Forest in Germany.  

This fine clock is one example of a modern extension of Justin's antique clock, found in the previous post.  It features a life sized, baby cuckoo - this one is stuck in a little cage, and has an animated beak and wings.  An un-traditional shape, this clock is able to incorporate a wild and impressive amount of carved vegetation... trees, vines, leaves... this piece is a feast for the eyes.

New Catalog Preview

You saw it here first! North Coast Imports is pre-releasing our NEW Cuckoo catalog #56. You can download a PDF of the 40-page, pre-print, rough draft here:



Please keep in mind that this is still a rough-draft copy. It's colors are not very sharp, and there are a few pictures missing. We were so excited, we wanted to put out an advance copy, but for full details and pics visit our main website at http://www.northcoastimports.com/ All of our cuckoo clocks are up there, even with movies of each clock!

To have and hold your very own copy of the catalog you can print out the PDF!

Automata

For those of you who are interested in mechanical automata like our whistling birds, birds in the box, whistlers (as well as the more simple automata on our cuckoo clocks for example) I would highly recommend a book by Tom Standage entitled The Turk. In it he runs through a dizzying history of one of the most famous automata and its association with people like Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon, Beethoven, Edgar Allen Poe, and Charles Babbage.

"Automata are the forgotten ancestors of almost all modern technology. From computers to compact-disc players, railway engines to robots, the origins of today's machines can be traced back to the elaborate mechanical toys that flourished in the 18th century. As the first complex machines produced by man, automata represented a proving ground for technology that would later be harnessed in the industrial revolution. But their original uses were rather less utilitarian. Automata were the playthings of royalty, both as a form of entertainment in palaces and courts across Europe and as gifts sent from one ruling family to another. As well as being a source of amusement, automata provided a showcase for each nation's scientific prowess, since they embodied what was, a the time, the absolute cutting edge of new technology. As a result, automata had a far greater social and cultural importance than their outward appearance as mere toys might suggest."

-From The Turk, by Tom Standage, New York: Berkley Books 2002

"The passion for automatic exhibition which characterized the eighteenth century gave rise to the most ingenious mechanical devices, and introduced among the higher order of artists habits of nice and neat execution in the formation of the most delicate pieces of machinery. Those wheels and pinions, which almost eluded our senses by their minuteness, reappeared in the stupendous mechanism of our spinning-machines and our steam-engines. Those mechanical wonders which in one century enriched only the conjurer who used them, contributed in another to augment the wealth of the nation; and those automatic toys which once amused the vulgar, are now employed in extending the power and promoting the civilization of our species."

-From Letters on Natural Magic, by David Brewster, London: John Murray 1832