8TMT 540/9 Bahnhäusle 1885
Delivery time: 5 to 8 working days
Listen to the cuckoo
Original recording from our Manufactory in Gütenbach.
VdS-certified original – authentic Black Forest clockmaking.
Black Forest cuckoo clocks are robust, long-lasting timepieces. Occasionally wipe the case with a dry, soft cloth. The movement should be cleaned and oiled by a specialist every 5 years. Keep the clock away from direct sunlight and extreme temperature fluctuations to protect the natural wood.
We ship every clock carefully packed and fully insured with DHL, usually within 3 to 5 working days. Delivery is free within Germany, across the entire EU and to the United States. For deliveries to the United States all import duties are included in the price as well, there is nothing to pay on delivery. For all other countries the shipping cost is shown during checkout and any customs duties are paid by the recipient. If you are not completely satisfied with your clock, you may return it within 14 days free of charge. A short message to info@schneider-clocks.com is all it takes.
Article
Movement
Dimensions
Music
Figures & finish
The Clock Where It All Began
With its slender, tall silhouette, clean gabled roof and rich foliage, the Bahnhäusle 1885 embodies this original form at its finest. It's not a clock that recreates a scene, it is itself a piece of history: the form from which all later cuckoo clocks descended, handcrafted just as Anton Schneider has done since 1848.
The Gable Crown of Carved Foliage
A wreath of dark, sculpted leaves wraps around the clean, light-toned gabled roof, climbing up the gable and culminating in a single leaf at the roof's peak. The contrast between the roof's warm honey tone and the foliage's deep brown gives the Bahnhäusle its distinctive, almost architectural grace.
Delicately fretworked branches also twine up the sides, and further leaves are scattered across the case, each individually made and applied by hand. The clock feels like a trackside signal house being slowly and lovingly reclaimed by the Black Forest.
Where the Forest Climbs Onto the Roof
Unlike the chalet clocks, the cuckoo here doesn't live behind a little gable door but behind a round rosette window high up in the gable, a characteristic feature of historic Bahnhäusle clocks. On the hour, the finely fretworked rosette swings aside, and the small hand-painted bird steps forward to call the hour.
Its call is produced purely mechanically, with bellows and pipes inside, just as it has been done since the earliest days of Black Forest clockmaking. At night, all stays quiet: the automatic night shut-off lets the cuckoo and music rest on their own, with nothing for you to think about.
An Entrance Behind the Rosette Window
Below the dial, on a finely fretworked balcony console, stand four hand-painted figures in traditional dress. On the hour, they come to life and turn their rounds, accompanied by a genuine 36-note mechanical music box that alternates between playing “Edelweiss” and “The Happy Wanderer.”
The music is produced entirely without electronics: a pinned cylinder plucks the music box's tuned reeds, driven solely by the power of the weights. So every hour sounds a little like a small concert from another time.
Inside the Bahnhäusle works a mechanical 8-day movement, the top class among cuckoo clock movements. Wound once, the clock runs for a full week, driving everything at once: the pendulum, the cuckoo's call, and the music box with the dancing figures. Three pinecone weights of 1,500 grams each supply the energy, one for the going train, one for the cuckoo, one for the music.
This design with pendulum and pinecone weights has its roots in the 18th-century Black Forest, where farmhouse clockmaking grew into a world-famous craft tradition. To this day, this principle continues almost unchanged: the descending weights drive the movement, the pendulum sets the tempo, clockmaking in its purest form. The clock is wound once a week by pulling the weights back up via their chains, a small ritual that has been part of living with a genuine Black Forest clock for generations.
