After having built solid and reliable houses, the farmer families in Black Forest started  to use the long winter time together with the plenty available wood to invent tricky mechanical devices.

 
This is a clock which is over 200 years old, with a clockwork made nearly completely out of wood. Visit the German Clock Museum Furtwangen.

 
 
This is a cuckoo clock with carved front, as it is still sold today as a typical souvenir from Black Forest.

 
   

Nowadays the industry in Black Forest is highly diversified and concentrating on high precision mechanics of high quality metal and synthetic materials, e. g. for automotive applications.