The cuckoo clock was invented in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) town of Schönwald im Schwarzwald, Germany, by Franz Ketterer in 1738. Ketterer designed the system of small bellows and whistles that imitates the Cuckoo's call, and added them to a standard Dutch clock. Later refinements of the design changed the clock's shape to the familiar birdhouse or chalet. The center of their production continues to be in the Black Forest region of Germany, in the area of Triberg im Schwarzwald and Neustadt. Regional folklore recalls that the local farmers would carve cuckoo clock in the long winters to pass the time. Each spring, the farmers would emerge with their completed cuckoo clocks and show them off in the town square. Competition quickly ensued and each farmer would try to out do their neighbor by carving a more elaborate cuckoo clock the next winter. This could account for the fancy and time consuming designs that are part and parcel with the cuckoo clock.

The cuckoo clock is often wrongly viewed a Swiss creation. This is not to say Switzerland has no part in cuckoo clock history. Many of movement inside cuckoo clocks are Swiss produced and of the highest quality. However, the cuckoo clock is and always has been a German creation.

The design of a cuckoo clock is now conventional and most cuckoo clocks follow established traditional designs. Most are made in the shape of a rustic birdhouse or Schwarzwald chalet. They hang on the wall, and are housed in wooden cases, frequently decorated with birds, carved leaves; sometimes deer and other animals are added. Most now have an automaton of the bird that appears through a small trap door when the clock is striking, and vanishes behind the door after the clock is done.

The bird is often made to move while the clock strikes, typically by means of an arm that lifts the back of the carving. Some have musical movements, and play a tune on a music box after striking the hours or half-hours. Musical cuckoo clocks frequently have other automata that move when the music box plays. The clocks are almost always weight driven; a very few cuckoo clocks are spring driven.

In recent years, quartz battery powered cuckoo clocks have been made available to the retail market; these do not have cuckoo bellows, and typically generate their striking sounds electronically. The weights are conventionally cast in the shape of pine cones. The pendulum bob is often another carved leaf. The dial is small, and typically marked with Roman numerals. Battery powered cuckoo clock make up in convenience what they lack in tradition. Typically, battery powered cuckoo clock have a light sensor that can turn off the cuckoo bird so as to not disturb the sleeping inhabitants of the house. Also, battery powered cuckoo clock do not require winding.