VDS Certificate: Black Forest Clock Authenticity

The VdS Certificate

Authenticity, origin and quality, certified for every mechanical clock.

Certificate of authenticity

You recognise the original by its seal.

The VdS certificate stands for authenticity, origin and quality. It guarantees that every certified clock was made entirely in the Black Forest and works on a purely mechanical movement.

Discover mechanical clocks

1987founded as the Förderverein Schwarzwalduhr e. V.

52members: manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and collectors

2registered collective trademarks protect the origin

From the association's bylaws

Four criteria. No exceptions.

Only clocks that meet every requirement may carry the certificate. It remains reserved for the purely mechanical clock.

Made in the Black Forest

The Black Forest cuckoo clock is manufactured, finally assembled and regulated exclusively in the Black Forest.

Wooden case

Clock cases, decorations, facades, lattice windows, bay windows, balconies and shingles are, as a rule, made of wood.

Mechanical movement

The heart of the clock is a mechanical movement. The cuckoo's call is produced by genuine pipes with bellows, not electronically.

Regional parts

Dials, hands, weights, pipes, tone springs and the gong come from the Black Forest, wherever manufacturing there is technically possible and economically viable.

What the certificate guarantees

Made entirely in the Black Forest. Purely mechanical.

For your clock

Three signs of the original.

Every mechanical Anton Schneider clock carries the VdS certificate. This is how you recognise it.

Its own document

Each certified clock receives its own certificate. It was designed by an artist from Schonach and is written in German and English.

Chains and weights

A certified clock runs without electricity. Fir cone weights sink slowly on their chains and drive the movement.

A real call

The cuckoo call comes from two small wooden pipes with bellows, not from a loudspeaker.

The association

Protecting the origin since 1987.

1987Founding of the Förderverein Schwarzwalduhr e. V.

2005Renamed VdS, Verein die Schwarzwalduhr e. V.

2006Registration of the collective word mark „Die Schwarzwälder Kuckucksuhr“

2012Registration of the collective word and figurative mark, today's seal of origin

Home of the cuckoo clock

Where the clock belongs.

Founded in 1987, the VdS brings together manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and collectors of the genuine Black Forest cuckoo clock. Its mission is to protect the geographic origin of the Black Forest clock.

By far the largest share of all cuckoo clocks, several hundred thousand a year, is sold overseas. Customers there need to be able to rely on their clock genuinely coming from the Black Forest.

The heartland of the cuckoo clock lies in the Upper Black Forest, between Triberg, Schonach, Schönwald and Villingen-Schwenningen. Our manufactory in Gütenbach sits in the middle of this clock region, where clocks have been built for more than 300 years.