Hello,
I'm from the states, and am staying in Crailsheim Germany on business. I have a few hours for shopping and would like to buy a Cuckoo Clock. The hotel recommended that I go to “Rothenburg ob der Tauber” to shop for the clock. Does anyone know if this is a good town to visit for this purpose? Also can anyone suggest where I could find a good selection of clocks and a decent price?
Thanks in advance.
I was told that Rothenburg was only 20 minutes away. I'm on a tight schedule. I was under the impression that the Black Forest was further away. Is that not correct?
If you are close to Triberg, below is a message posted by Lane in 2007 on this subject.
We bought a clock for a friend in Triberg at a placed called Oli's. Oli is a a Master Carver and although he does not have the volume that House of 1000 clocks has he did have a very good selection. He explained that to be a Master Carver you have to train & then go before a Government panel and take a test to be licensed as a Master Carver. Also, he said they have to re-test every 5 years to maintain the Master Carver certification. The carvings on his clocks really impressed us and they have "mcc" on the face of the clock indicating the clock was made by a Master Carver. Oli also has a real Cuckooo bird mounted in his store. He also will ship clocks to the States. Word of caution. Oli is a talker and will take 30 minutes to an hour telling you about cuckoo clocks but it is most educational. In addition if you need a place to stay while in Triberg he has nice and reasonable rooms to rent above his shop. The waterfalls in Triberg are beautiful.
You can find shops in Rothenberg ob der Tauber with Google.
Two that come up repeatedly are Kunstwerk Friese, at Grüner Markt 7, and Georg Schopf GmbH, at Galgengasse 3. Apparently the first one specializes in cuckoo clocks. I'd try there first.
To elaborate somewhat on Oli's in my post of 2007 that Larry referenced. BTW, Larry I am impressed with either your memory or your research abilities or both. Good on you. Wish I could remember that well but it's those doggone aluminum cans. I Can't believe it has been three years since we were there. Back to Oli's and cuckoo clocks. I will post a link to his website when I finish. In 2004 we purchased two clocks while in Rothenburg from The Friese shop mentioned by Lola and received a 10 per cent discount with Rick's book. Nice folks. In 2007 we shopped around for clocks in Triberg for a friend. We came upon Oli's place which is located just a block or two from the House of 1,000 clocks. We had Oli mail the clock to our house. When I compared his clock to the one we purchased in Rothenburg I was envious because Oli's was so much more detailed and the animals which he carved by hand were much better than the mass produced ones on my clock. Also, mine has a flat roof and his had individual little shingles which dressed the clock housing up considerable. Even though the clocks we purchased in Rothenburg came from the Black Forest they are mass produced so the detail in the carvings pale in comparison. Don't get me wrong we liked our clock but if I were going to purchase another I would get it from Oli's shop. Note: he has nothing to do with producing any of the mechanical parts of the clocks and gets that from the same factories that other clocks use so the quality of the guts of the clock should be the same. Concerning the price I would think Oli's would be a little higher but he has a decent inventory with varying prices. One thing he said that was interesting was that he probably could not make it if it were not for the American tourists and the U.S. service men and women stationed in Germany. For a bit more detail you can go to the link below.
To Mary, Texas from Mary, Texan,
...and of course the Kathe Wohlfahrt stores - Holy Cow, there's FIVE of them now in RodT! It seems they have split their merchandise up according to type: toys in one store, clocks in another, a couple of stores dedicated to Christmas items, etc. At the time we bought ours (2 different occasions) they had what we wanted at the best price, plus they were already shipping approximately 734 lbs of Christmas ornaments to the states anyway... 8^D
DO shop around a little on the prices, though; KW's prices seemed a little high on our last pilgrimages through her stores (albeit those stores were actually in Bruges), and the few on the website are a tad bit pricey - EEK! Anyway, RodT is small enough to do a bit of reconnaissance.
