Product Idea |

Working Cuckoo Clock

64 comments
Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

From a remote village in Germany's Black Forest comes this LEGO take on a classic cuckoo clock, complete with realistic ticking, self-winding, and a bird that pops out to scream every 60 seconds.

Is it accurate? Who knows! But it is a real, functioning clock, with a weight-driven Galileo escapement and three working hands (seconds, minutes, hours). Other features include:

Self-winding: Includes a motor that can wind up the clock automatically when the weight reaches its limit (about 4-5 minutes of runtime).

Adjustable hands: A knob on the left side allows you to set the time.

Bird: He's in there, and he's very small.

Roman numerals: Clock face includes all 12!

Feet made out of frogs and gold Hagrid hair: Self-explanatory.

So...how does it work?

The clock has two main mechanisms:
  • A fully analog clock mechanism, driven by a Galileo escapement and genuine LEGO weights from 42146 Liebherr Crawler Crane;
  • A cuckoo mechanism that uses a LEGO motor and proximity sensor. When the sensor detects that a piece attached to the second hand is in the "12" position, the motor fires off the cuckoo!

There is also a second motor for windup.

Why do I think this would be a good set? Several reasons:

  1. Timeless design. Who doesn't love a cuckoo clock?
  2. A LEGO-fied take on an iconic object. Like 21327 Typewriter, 10334 Retro Radio, and 21323 Grand Piano -- the last of which would be most similar to this, since it included a Powered Up Hub, Motor, and Proximity Sensor.
  3. A little bit of Castle, a whole lot of Technic. Any version of this would give a challenging, rewarding, and variety-filled experience to 18+ builders looking for something very different.

Why did I want to build this?

Some LEGO sets let you approximate building the real thing. I wanted to build this because I knew it would involve, on some level, actually building the real thing. And it was a blast -- easily the most complex, challenging, and interesting LEGO project I've ever undertaken. I hope you get to build it, too!

See it in action:

Opens in a new window