North Coast Imports, Inc.

We are always happy to hear from our friend J. Miller. He's got quite a collection of rare and unusual antique Black Forest Clocks. He most recently acquired an exteremly rare piece from the 19th Century, and there is only ONE of these known to exist in the world. This "Rat-Eater" is a very rare example of a set of German automata known as "Dumpling Eaters." For whatever reason, the clockmaker here decided to make the figure eat rats instead of dumplings or sausages. (see more pictures on our Flickr photostream here ) There is also a very fascinating discussion about the clock here . Apparantly there are several interesting accounts of eating rats during wartime. The rat eater isn't a clock you can run out and buy, but North Coast Imports is pleased to offer automata that eat dumplings and drink beer. Rombach und Haas has the only original Black Forest clock that eats dumplings or drink sips of beer, counting the hour and half hour.

I haven't been able to post here in a while. We at North Coast Imports have been busy playing the role of the elves - getting all of our charming and beautiful cuckoo clocks and other timepieces out to holiday buyers. Here's something completely off topic: This interesting project by French artist Stephane Vigny, is a combination of a cuckoo clock and a giant loud speaker. When the bass is loud, the largest speaker on the bottom is released on a hinge-mechanism and catapulted into the room, retreating back to the cabinet when the sound softens. Although we're not sure if this increases the dance action of the space, it's a cool idea to allow sound to exist as a kinetic object of sorts. Stephane Vigny Art via: Makezine

Everybody knows about the clock in Munich and Prague, but did you know about Tokyo? I really like the music... Here's another one in Tokyo. And, of course, fans of North Coast Imports already know about this one in Ohio... Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!!

Here's something interesting... Forget diamonds - one Swiss watchmaker is betting on watches made from moon dust, parts of the Apollo 11 rocket and bits of spacesuits to capture consumer cash as an economic slow down bites. More than 600 watchmakers have the Swiss brand stamp, so Geneva-based Romain Jerome aims to use "inaccessible materials" to set its products apart from rivals such as Richemont's Vacheron Constantin and independent watchmaker Patek Philippe. "We chose the space conquest," he said. "Going to the moon was the biggest adventure of human kind." The group will make 1969 watches - matching the year of Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's first journey to the moon - for the "Moon Dust-DNA" collection. The watches, which start at $US15,000 and can cost as much as $US500,000, will be launched in Geneva on Wednesday and presented to customers at next year's Baselworld, the largest annual fair for the watch and jewelry ...

Ingolf Haas is starting a movement of re imagining the cuckoo clock. North Coast Imports is proud to be introducing this new and exciting line of handcrafted works of art. Stay tuned for more designs. Experimenting on the cuckoo clock is a real trend among designers and conceptual artists. Here's a wacky idea, that may not make it to mass production: a cuckoo clock based on the movie Stanley Kubricks's The Shining ... (click on the link and scroll down)

Be sure to visit your nearest North Coast Imports dealer! The new cuckoo catalogs are arriving in a store near you this week. The selection is fantastic. Choose the most fascinating and beautiful designs from Romba, Sternreiter, and Hubert Herr! In the meantime, do you remember this?

Dubbed the strangest clock in the world, it features a giant grasshopper and has 60 slits cut into its face which light up to show the time. Its creator John Taylor said he "wanted to make timekeeping interesting". BBC That's pretty much NCI's mantra - "Making timekeeping interesting." In addition to our own clocks, it's great to find extravagant works of horological art being produced throughout the world. This one is pretty fascinating. Although it has LED lights and an electric winding motor, it is otherwise all mechanical with a grasshopper escapement. By the way, our new cuckoo clock catalog should be finished printing by Friday. Make sure we have your favorite clock or jewelry or gift store on file so that they will receive our new catalog.