Depending on the model and design of the clock, cuckoo clocks can have a manual, automatic or no turn-off. This enables the movement to be wound and thus a functional time display without the typical tones of the watch.

This makes it possible to sleep peacefully at night without the bird's hourly calls. Automatic night shutdown stops the calls and melodies yourself in a certain period of time, manual shutdowns can be switched off manually using a lever.