Expert: William J Perkins - 1/12/2010

Question
Hello.  I recently received shipment of a brand new cuckoo clock from Germany (bought it while visiting in December). The type is a Swiss Chalet style, 8 day cuckoo clock.  It plays two songs, has 3 moving parts, along with dancers and the cuckoo bird.  The music is supposed to play each hour, changing from one song to another on the hour.  The problem is that after playing the first song in full, at the next hour, the 2nd song stops mid way into the song and the music box/music stops/gets hung up.   The time continues to be kept accurately, the cuckoo bird continues to cuckoo, but the songs/music no longer plays.    This problem existed immediately.  So, everything is working fine but the songs do not play (the chain does not move).  If you reset or "wind"/pull the weights back into the starting position, the 1st song will play correctly and the 2nd song will again stop midway through and gets hung up all over again.

It is under warranty as it is brand new but before I pack it up and ship it somewhere, I am wondering if there is something on my end I can check to see if I can fix it. Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer
In view of the active warranty I urge that you take advantage of it.  It might be to your benefit to contact the warrantor before actually sending the clock back.  It is entirely conceivable that the matter could be resolved over the phone.  Wish you luck.  Regards WJP