My grandfather had a German cuckoo clock that he was very proud of; we had to pull the weights (iron pine cones) up each day and as the hours passed, the weights would descend with each chirp of the cuckoo. This beautiful nutcracker reminds me of that daily timekeeping ceremony. This is a substantially larger nutcracker (compared to most of our others) with added special details like a cloth cape, wooden pine cones, and yes: a toy clock that actually keeps time––hence the premium moniker. The toy clock operates by key winding... and while you may not want to run a train based off of its time keeping (sometimes the pendulum ticks really quickly and needs to be slowed down, and we would hesitate to call the toy clock super accurate), this little toy clock is still pretty darn close to accurate. (We just catch ours up to speed every now and then, keeping in mind it is mainly decorative and being pretty impressed by the fact that it actually keeps time.) Handmade by artisans of the Christian Ulbricht Company; they've been making nutcrackers by hand in Germany's Erzgebirge Mountains, where wooden nutcrackers first originated, since 1928.

This is a working nutcracker (the lever in back operates his jaws), made by hand of solid natural finish woods. His beard and dark hair are lush faux fur. Just about 17" tall x 6 1/2" wide x 6 1/2" deep. Perfect not just for Christmas, our clockmaker will gladly keep you company in your home all the year long... and keep the time for you, too. Handmade in Germany.

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