Cuckoo Clock in Switzerland
 

We'll be leaving for our trip in two weeks and we want to buy a cuckoo clock. I'll list the towns we'll be visiting, can anyone recommend a good place to buy one? Our price range is to $200. Thank you.
Lucerne,Lugano,Muerren,Zermatt & Zurich.

Cuckoo clocks are actually German. I'm sure you can buy one in Switzerland, but the authentic ones will be imported from Germany. $200 budget may be a bit tight. The money for a cuckoo clock goes into the wood carving. Nicer ones also have intricate moving parts and play nice songs, but you should probably be able to buy a simple one for $200 which does not have much motion other than the cuckoo or play music. Do not expect accurate time keeping even from the expensive ones. I can only adjust mine to a minute or so a week accuracy.

I've seen them in Zermatt but that is not where I would buy one as I think a lot of things in Zermatt are perhaps "overpriced" such as the wristwatch I saw there last year priced at a mere 50,000 Euros!

Unless you are planning on shipping the thing I would get one as close to the end of the trip as possible.

We bought a cuckoo clock in the Fussen area when we were in Germany last month, but they were sold in locations all over Germany. You should probably be able to find one in Switzerland, although I'm not really sure. It doesn't keep the time very well. It goes about 5 minutes fast for every hour so eventually its way ahead of the actual time.

We spent about $110 for ours. Its kind of small, and gforaker is right...it does cuckoo on each hour and half hour, but it does little else besides the pendulum moving. They very wildly in price, and some places charge more than others. I saw the same one we purchased (same size, style) in Rothenberg for almost 80 Euro more than we paid for ours.

Good luck!
Tracy

There's a very big souvenir shop in Lucerne. It's near the ABM and C&A stores (not too far from McDonald's in the old town.) They have over 20 clocks to choose from.

My brother bought one when we were in Lucerne. It's been a few years so I don't remember the shop but it was watches and clocks only. The prices were OK as I recall and they had a really big selection. You could probably ask someone there where it is or if they are still there. It was just out of the center of town, we would pass it walking back to our hotel.

For good selection and prices you really need to go to Switzeralnd - where the clock shops will have hundreds of different options.

We bought one about 10 years ago - very intricately carved with little figures moving in and out and a cock crowing at noon and midnight as well as the hourly cukooo. It keeps time reasonably well- you need to adjust it about once a month - but they are primarily decorative.

I think we paid about $175 - but - that was many years ago.

There are hundereds of cuckoos in Lucerne. We lock our cuckoo in the clock at night and our resident ghost lets him back out.

Thanks for all the replies. I know cuckoo clocks are German but I remember seeing them in Switzerland when I was there in 1985. We will be at Frankfurt Airport for two hours and I could look around there but that's on the way home. I do plan on having it shipped and with most posts recommending Lucerne, which is our first city, I will certainly have it shipped home. I'll look around Lucerne but the day we are there is their Altstadtfest! Could be a bit crowded. Thanks again.

I saw those clocks what seems everywhere! Lucerne, Zermatt, Zurich, Interlaken - those for sure! I didn't buy any.

My aunt got such a clock as a gift, and the first night she was going nuts - home alone, the Cuckoo jumps out ever quarter of an hour, and she's unable to get any sleep! Her husband had to come home from a night shift to "kill the bird".

Yes, there is definitely a store in the old part of Lucerne that has hundreds of clocks for sale...kinda "clock central" so if you don;t find one there, well....it may not exist!!

Enjoy your trip.

Why don't you buy one from the Internet? They are not made in Switzerland, they come there from Germany or the far East.