One Flew Over The Cuckoo Clock Nest

The German Cuckoo Clock Nest has been an iconic part of Tamborine Mountain for well over two decades. But what really makes it tick? Stefanie Wernekinck, director, tells us more…

by Kyle Hitchmough

What’s it like to manage a clock shop? What goes into the day-to-day of running this place?

We have three floors: We’ve got the repair business in the cellar, so we have two full-time clock docs and we’ve just taken on an apprentice as well. It’s actually called an endangered trade now, as there’s not many around. Then you’ve got the shop here, where we always have three staff on the floor. Then upstairs is the office, where I am. We get a lot of internet orders coming through. We run a wholesale business as well, where we provide other clock shops and European shops with clocks and wares. Then we have exports, things like making custom crates to send clocks to Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand…

You mentioned it’s an endangered trade. How has the rise of digital technology like smart-watches affected business over the years?

What we sell are luxury items, not your bread and milk, so if the economy’s in trouble, we’re in trouble. But the products that we sell are unique, they’re handmade, and they have a story and a history rich in German heritage. They’re not mass produced, it’s specialized, and we try to get pieces that have been made by one clockmaker, with a signature, so you’re getting something that’s very unique and special. I think we’re going into a place where everything is quick and disposable, so much e-waste… A product like this is something that’s going to last a long time, and I feel good about that. We get some repairs in that are hundreds and hundreds of years old, and we have it there on the bench, and you just look at it and you say “where have you been? What have you heard? What’s your story?”

Is your repair business mainly maintaining your own products, or is it pieces from elsewhere?

It’s probably an

even split. We recommend every five to seven years that the clock is serviced. It’s like your car—if you service it regularly, you get more miles out of it. People send their clocks from Western Australia, from Tasmania. We have a lot of locals and there’s a lot of word-of-mouth, too, just from being here for 25 years.

What is your common clientele? Who is the market for luxury clocks?

It can vary from someone who has wanted a cuckoo clock since they were a kid, to someone walking in who has no idea about clocks until we show them, and they end up walking out with one. A lot of our sales are based on visitors seeing the clocks, having a go at winding them, and buying one. We teach them how to hang it on the wall and how it’s packed. We do a lot of hands-on education that you wouldn’t get in a chain store. It’s as much an experience as it is an item. A lot of people have clock collections: the collectors come back again and again. and we always have something new that they haven’t seen before.

Are you a local? What’s your opinion on Tamborine as an area as a community?

Yes, I’ve lived up here for 25 years. It’s a beautiful place to live. I have a small family, so my kids go to our local primary school. You’re up here with nature, which is lovely. You’ve got a lot of space. It’s just such a beautiful part of the world.

What do you think a shop like this provides to the area beyond just quality clocks?

It’s celebrating cultural heritage. We’ve got a lot of European businesses on the mountain and I think the region itself was originally what drew my parents here. It’s very similar to the Black Forest region in Germany where they’re from. And the village feel: you walk down the street, you know people in the community, it’s important to be active in that community.

What do you like most about working here?

There’s always different tasks to do, ranging from putting together a slideshow for the office Christmas party, to ordering new stock, to having interviews wit

h people! It’s a very varied job. I can sit at my desk and work or I can come downstairs anytime to be on the floor.

Having worked here for so long, do you have any interesting stories you want to share?

We actually did a photoshoot—we flew down to Melbourne to meet with people from XERO [an accounting software company]. They approached us to be part of an advertising campaign, along with a chap that makes penny farthing bicycles, and a professional jouster! It was so much fun, and they just treated us like royalty. It was a hoot.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

After 25 years it’s awesome to know that we are a part of the history here. I hope it keeps going for my kids’ generations, if they want to be a part of it. To be able to keep things going that are hundreds of years old, I think that’s awesome. I can go anywhere in the world and they ask me where I’m from. I’ll say “Tamborine Mountain, do you know it?” And they’ll say “Yeah, isn’t there a cuckoo clock shop there?” So, we really are known everywhere and it gives us a buzz that you mention Tamborine Mountain and they’ll put the cuckoo clock shop in the same sentence.

 

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Or email the writer at kyle.hitchmough@hotmail.com, and follow me on Twitter @realcasualrvws.