Gustav Becker (1819-1885) was one of the best German watchmakers, he being the founder of the Gustav Becker brand. He trained as a watchmaker in Germany and Austria, so in 1850 he opened a watchmaking workshop in Freiburg. He soon became recognized as a watchmaker for the excellent quality and design of his watches, being […]
It all started on a holiday at my grandparents’, many years ago. Summer days, the freedom and curiosity of boundless exploration, without wasting that precious time from the big vacation on TV, the Internet or social media. Why? Because they didn’t exist at the time. It was better, it was worse… who knows? On one […]
The spring clock is a classic mechanical clock consisting of many cogwheels driven by the energy given by a spring. The spring, in turn, is energized by the manual twisting of the key which produces tension on the spring. The disadvantage of this mechanism is that every 7 days it must be turned. The movement […]
Around 1500, in France, Italy and Germany, the weights needed to run clocks were replaced by springs. The invention was attributed to Peter Henlein, a German locksmith. He was the one who started making smaller watches, which, in addition to the practical component, also had another component that had not been encountered before, that of […]
Schlenker-Kienzle In 1883 Jakob Kienzle married into the Schlenker family contributed to the expansion of the company. In 1899, 162,000 alarm clocks were made per year. The company name was changed to Schlenker & Kienzle. From 1894 the weight and cost of alarm clocks and wall clocks was significantly reduced by the introduction of the […]
Please note that this brief history focuses on the Smiths as house watchmakers. The parent society had enormous ramifications (summarized to some extent in the origins chapter), but this history is concerned only with watches. In 1931 Smith, then called S Smith and Sons (Car Accessories) Ltd., decided to enter the domestic and watch market […]
In 1844 Friedrich Mauthe and his wife Maria founded a company in Schwenningen to produce watch parts. In the late 1860s the Mauthes began producing their own wall clocks (and movements). Some were produced on themes, so-called “Gewerblern”, others were produced in a more “industrial” way. In 1876 their sons Mauthe (1845-1909) and James (1847-1915) […]
In 1860, the merchant Erhard Junghans, together with his brother Jakob Zeller-Tobler, founded an oil factory in Schramberg, which from an economic point of view was a failure. In 1861 Erhard Junghans founded with his brother Xaver Junghans in Schramberg – Gebrüder Junghans. After he returned from the United States of America he began manufacturing […]
Our modern system of using a base 60 time system, meaning a clock with 60 minute 60 second increments, dates back to 2,000 BC. Candles were also used to measure time or, among the Chinese, scented sticks, which were made in such a way that they burned for an exact time interval. When these burned […]
Tools for knowing time have existed since ancient times. Historical evidence tells us that the first to divide the day into smaller units were the Egyptians. Studying the movement of certain stars that were associated with various divinities, they divided the night into 12 parts. They later built the sundial around 3,500 BC, which was […]
Today is the tomorrow we feared yesterday.
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