Musical Wall Clock

Posts Tagged ‘tchaikovsky’

Model No. M8-08PQ

List Price: $270.00

Get it at a discount here

Is there any more entertaining way to mark the hour than with an old-fashioned cuckoo clock? American clockmaker River City combines the charm of the cuckoo with the fun of a modern electric melody wall clock.

This cuckoo is a lot more playful than the traditional version and would be an ideal gift for a young person. The brightly painted design features flowers and a swinging heart shaped pendulum. The chalet scene features a mountain dweller sounding his alpine horn in the company of his St. Bernard. Two authentic-looking brass pine cone weights hang below.

As expected a cuckoo bird appears to mark each hour with it’s refrain. Then a musical performance begins, featuring one of twelve (mostly appropriate) compositions:

Happy Wanderer; Edelweiss; Fur Elise; Lorelei; Swan Lake
Home sweet Home; Sound of Silence; Clementine
Themes from Dr. Zhivago, The Deer Hunter, The Sting and The Godfather

Modern technology mean you never have to wind this version of the timeless German clock, which keeps accurate quartz time. A volume and mute feature makes it a well-behaved companion in you bedroom as well. Unlike a traditional cuckoo, it’s also fairly compact, which means you can put it anywhere.

It runs on three C batteries and comes with a limited two-year warranty.

Model No. GVB1001 / 6209

List Price: $89.00

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This is a pendulum clock unlike any other. Instead of the traditional case, this clock features a shining brass exterior with streamlined details. The gleaming gold-finish pendulum rotates within a mirrored case.

I like the clock face on this timekeeper, which resides in a recessed area. It features a warm multi-tone metallic finish. An inner-circle displays markers between the hours, making the clock more functional by allowing you to know the time more precisely. The hours are marked by glittering stones for extra visual interest. The quartz clock also features smooth sweep hand movement.

Rather than a chime, this pendulum clock features an electronic playlist of traditional melodies, classical refrains and lullabies, by artists like Beethoven, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Andrew Lloyd Webber:

Memory; Fur Elise; Serenata; Minuet; Traumerei
Die Lorelei; Toy Symphony; Swan Lake; Home on the Range
Long, Long Ago; The Farmer in the Dell; Old Black Joe
Happy Farmer; Home Sweet Home; Cradle Song; Hush, little baby

The hourly melodies automatically mute at night. They shut-off mechanism is timer based, rather than using a light sensor, so you can keep the clock in a lighted hallway.

The clock body is a fairly compact 19 inches high and runs on 4 AA batteries (extra). It’s made by the 150 year old German company Gustav Becker, known for their reliable timepeices.

Model No. QXM228BRH

List Price $325.00

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This popular wall clock combines elegance and playfulness, making it a perfect for the whole family.

The face depicts a fairyland scene with castles and horn players marking the hours. Metallic accents are combined with colorful crystals. The frame is a rich brown wood burl pattern, accented with brass.

On the hour, the face separates and a revolving led light show begins, accompanied by one of six classic tunes:

• Amazing Grace, by John Newton
• The Jupiter Suite by Gustav Holst
• Pictures at an Exhibition, Promenade by Modest Mussorgsky
• Dance of the Reed Pipes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Waltz of the Flowers, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Salut d’Amour, by Edward Elgar

Additional features include a demo button (if you can’t wait) and a light sensor which shuts off the performance at night, making it bedroom-friendly.

This is one of several melody wall clocks designed by Seiko. I like the compact, yet elaborate design offered by this model, which measures about 16.5 square inches. The designers were also selective in choosing a handful of tunes with universal appeal, which are rendered in high fidelity sound.

Needless to say, this timepiece needs a fair amount of power, supplied by four D and one AA batteries, which are included.