Expert: Kenneth Saunders - 4/1/2010

Question
QUESTION: I had a Stag Black Forest cuckoo clock completely restored about a year ago by a clock repair professional. Cost me about $450 to go through it. The lamb leather baffle was dried hard and replaced. He told me it was circa 1940's and worth about $800 because the clock gears were made heavier in those days. The age is likely correct because I bought it from someone whose mother brought it with her when she immigrated to the USA from Belgium. Problem is I have had nowhere to hang it until today and the cuckoo is not working - which is to say his door is not opening on cue when I turn the hands clockwise. This clock has 3 weights for the Swiss music box? I noted there are two little doors on each side of the clock but when I open them I don't see anything that might turn off the cuckoo like my newer little Black Forest cuckoo clock. How do I get this clock jump started?

ANSWER: the little side doors are for inspection and adjustments only and not for operational adjustments like on or off.

often these have little L shaped door locks above where the cuckoo comes out, and they have to be turned out of the way so the doors can open.

Look in the big back door also to see if there is some wire or something interfering with the bird going out the front- there is a wire off one of the bellows tops that lifts the back end of the cuckoo bird when it cuckoos, and sometimes that gets snagged.

report back ..........

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Correction: the wire from the top bellow to Cuckoo back end is not too short but can't see a way to connect. It has a crook close to the bellow then straightens out. Cuckoo has a metal bracket that connects him to a camshaft going down to the main gear works. The one side of the bracket has an eyelet with a tiny wire that connects to his door. An eyelet on the other side of the bracket is not in use. Is the wire from the top bellow suppose to connect to the bracket?

Answer
the bellows top wire just lifts up when it cuckoos and tips the bird's tail up and down --- the other eyelet on the bird's perch is for a door hinged on the opposite side from yours.often these have little L shaped door locks above where the cuckoo comes out, and they have to be turned out of the way so the doors can open.

I can not think of other ideas- sorry- call your $450 pro and ask him?