North Coast Imports, Inc.

"Memento Mori" is a reminder of mortality. Our " All Are Mine " clock is an excellent modern example that is the result of a long tradition of clockmaker artisans who remind us that life is short, and all things must pass. This clock tells us a story. In the upper left part of the clock, you'll see a rich man (with his bags of money and fine suit). Just above the 12:00 position, there is a carving of a king, and to his right there is a carved figure of a monk. Underneath the dial are carved representations of the young and the old; and at the bottom you can see the world. The clock bears the inscription, Alle sind mein , or "All Are Mine." Whether you are a rich person, royalty, a man of the church, young and old, all around the world, Death will eventually come to collect you. At the top, astride the foliott balance, the personification of the End of Life swings to collect his harvest. Along with my previous post , here are more very fine exam...

Here's a very interesting piece that recently sold at the Antiquorum Auctions . Perfect for all of you Steampunks and Goths, this piece is nearly 400 years old! This is a very interesting fusee with chain, verge escapement, and plain steel two-arm balance without spring. From the Watchismo Blog : During the first minute, the skull's expression seems to smile, the second minute it seems to laugh, the next appears to scream and finally, the jaws snap shut, as if the skull were trying to bite something. At the same time, one of the snakes slowly sinks back down into one of the eye sockets, while the other slowly comes out of the other eye, before retracting suddenly, as the first snake again springs out from its eye-socket. And to view the time, just open up the skull cap! It sold recently for $135,000. Designed & built in 1610 by Nicolaus Schmidt der Junger (Augsburg, Germany) as a skull set on two crossed shinbones and mounted on a gilt brass tripod, the hinged skull cap (r...

It is an exciting time at North Coast Imports! We are very pleased with the new additions to our collection. Check out this beautiful piece from our master carver Christophe : This was inspired by a rare antique clock - and we have the original in our /museum collection! Of course the new clock is larger, more elaborate, and MUSICAL with a large 36-note Swiss-made music box mechanism. A true collectors' item!

We're uploading new footage right now of our very popular and very special Long Bahnhäusle cuckoo clock. Read more about the carver here .

Meet Christophe from Robert H. Uhrenmanufaktur . He's a very special clockmaker in the Black Forest in Germany. He produces our very special models #8365 and #8366 . There are very few of these clocks made and each is made by hand - one at a time. Here is a pictorial on the process of carving the special Long Bahnhäusle and Gothic style cuckoo clocks.

I was glad to see that someone uploaded this documentary to YouTube. Fast Forward to 5:39: Most of the shots are from our very own Rombach und Haas!! ...of course, the carvings aren't done from "pine or plywood." Black Forest cuckoo clocks are carved from Linden wood. Here are more pictures from one of our specialty Black Forest cuckoo clock makers: This was for a custom made clock for the Prince of Baden. Below, the carver is seen constructing our special Long Bahnhäusle cuckoo clocks:

Probably not, but he would have probably been pretty good at clock restoration because oftentimes, restoring an antique clock in a historically correct manner not only requires a mandatory high level of technical skills and knowledge but also the intellectual curiosity, deductive reasoning and persistent "detective" work to understand, and faithfully recreate, the original clockmaker's design given the typical situation of incomplete information and more than a few missing parts. Recently, I had the opportunity to acquire a rare, and very early ( ca. 1876), Johann Baptist Beha Number 932 cuckoo and monk clock. This clock is rather unusual for a Beha clock in that it not only has time, strike and cuckoo complications but also an animation complication in which a monk comes out of the lower door three times a day to ring the Angelus (the monk's arm goes up and down while clock's two gongs are struck to simulate the ringing of a bell in the church's steeple). ...