Description
The Engstler 431QM cuckoo clock is a remarkable 35 cm chalet as decorative as it is musical. Every hour, its cuckoo calls with an echo before letting one of the twelve melodies be heard.
A cuckoo that calls with an echo
Established in the Black Forest since 1952, the Villingen-Schwenningen manufacturer here signs a chalet cuckoo clock that runs on batteries, with a musical quartz movement. On every full hour, the cuckoo calls and its echo answers, before one of the twelve melodies is played, from “Kuckuckwalzer” to “Salut d'amour”, including “Für Elise” and “Home Sweet Home”.
A light sensor automatically switches off the sounds during the night.
Beneath the turret, the Black Forest farmhouse
A small turret crowns the wooden shingle roof and houses a decorative bell. Under the roof, grooved planks are edged with a white scalloped frieze adorned with two edelweiss motifs. A balcony sits beneath the cuckoo door, while the windows show their green shutters.
Lower down, the dark dial has golden Roman numerals. Two small forest animals stand on the left near a pile of logs, while a tall fir tree rises on the right, above the stone foundation.
On Black Forest farms, small bell towers were once used to call those working in the fields to meals or to raise the alarm. To rediscover this bell tradition with a mechanical animation, a mechanical Hönes chalet features a farm woman pulling the rope.
