The earliest surviving working novelty clocks were German automata made in Augsburg in the 1650s involving mechanical figures, either of human or animal form, which performed as the hour struck. They include dogs, and, most extraordinary for the early date, cockerels which flapped their wings and opened and closed their mouth, often making a crowing sound. The earliest novelty clock in history is the celebrated crowing cock of the Strasbourg Cathedral clock, made in 1354 and now preserved in the Strasbourg Museum.
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| Bradley & Hubbard, Meriden,
Connecticut, cast iron novelty Blinking Eye clock, signed, movement with
porcelain dial and beveled glass door. Patented July 14, 1857. |
