Junghans Uhren GmbH is a German watch and clock manufacturer. The company is located in the district of Rottweil, in the town of Schramberg,

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, southwest Germany. In 1903, Junghans was the largest watch factory in the world and in 1956 it was the third largest chronometer manufacturer right behind

Rolex Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...

and

Omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

. The company is owned by local businessman and politician Hans-Jochem Stein (CDU).

History

On 15 April 1861 Erhard Junghans created the company ''Junghans und Tobler'' together with his brother-in-law Jakob Zeller-Tobler in Schramberg. In 1866, shortly before Erland Junghans died and his wife took over the company, the first Junghans watches appeared. She was succeeded by her sons, Erhard Jr. and Arthur, the latter of whom spent much time in the United States, where he learned innovative American production techniques that enabled the company to market affordable and popular timepieces to the German public. The USA was also the inspiration for the five-pointed star as the Junghans logo, shortly to be replaced by an eight-pointed star, intended to symbolize a gear wheel, which is still in use. By the year 1903, Junghans had the largest watch and clock factory, with over 3000 employees. The company began to produce wristwatches in 1927, and over the following decades created clocks and watches for the civilian market and the German air force. Beginning in the 1950s, the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

-trained designer Max Bill created products for the firm, notably the teardrop-shaped "Kitchen Clock with Timer", which can be found in the collection of

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

, and followed by a series of watches, the first of which launched in 1961. The relationship between Junghans and Bill lasted many years, and the company has continued to release new models based on his work. Many of the firm's best-selling watches today are based on those designed by Bill. The company served as the official timekeeper for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. In the late 1980s, Junghans introduced the first radio-controlled table clock on the world market. In 1990 the first radio-controlled wristwatch, called the ''MEGA 1'', followed, designed by

Hartmut Esslinger Hartmut Esslinger (born 5 June 1944) is a German-American industrial designer and inventor. He is best known for founding the design consultancy Frog Design, frog, and his work for Apple Computer in the early 1980s. Life and career Esslinge ...

and his firm

Frog Design frog (styled as ''"frog, part of Capgemini Invent"'') is a global creative and design consultancy founded in 1969 by industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger in Mutlangen, Germany, where it was initially named “esslinger design”. Soon after the ...

. In 1995 Junghans presented a solar-powered watch with ceramic housing. Together with the Japanese firm

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, and semiconductors. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch in 1969. Seiko is ...

, Junghans developed a globally-oriented wristwatch that automatically sets the local time in respective

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

s. Junghans had been owned by Egana Goldpfeil from

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

since the 1990s. In 2008, Egana Goldpfeil and Junghans went bankrupt. The Schramberg business man and politician Hans-Jochem Stein acquired the company with the 85 employees.

Junghans Defence Industry

The ''Junghans Microtec GmbH'' was a division of Junghans Uhren GmbH founded in the mid-1980s, which was formally spun out into a separate legal entity in 1999, and produces

fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates its function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fu ...

-technology for

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

, mortar, medium-calibre,

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare refers to the military strategies, tactics, and weapon systems designed to counter and destroy enemy armored vehicles, particularly tanks. It originated during World War I following the first deployment of tanks in 1916, and ...

and

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

s. Junghans Microtec is located in the small town of Dunningen-Seedorf, close to Schramberg. The company produces fuses for 76 mm to 203 mm artillery. The small German tank

Wiesel AWC The Wiesel Armoured Weapons Carrier (AWC; ) is a German light air-transportable armoured fighting vehicle, more specifically a lightly armoured weapons carrier, produced by Rheinmetall. The Wiesel has been used in several of the Bundeswehr's mis ...

uses the Junghans fuse MFZ/M as a standard performance. According to a leaked diplomatic cable, the production facilities of Junghans Microtec GmbH would be endangered by terrorist attacks..

Junghans Timepieces (Gallery)

File:Clock-JungHans-6932.jpg,

Pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

box clock
ca. mid 1920s File:Max Bill Junghans.jpg, Junghans kitchen clock, 1956 File:Junghans Additionsstoppuhr, 1960er-Jahre (2 qu).JPG, Stopwatch, 1960s File:Junghans Astra.jpg, Pocketwatch "Junghans Astra", 1960s. File:Junghans Bundeswehr Fliegeruhr.jpg, Junghans watch designed for the German Bundeswehr, first issued late 1950s. File:Junghans Max Bill Uhr.jpg, Junghans watch designed by Max Bill. File:Junghans-MEGA1-watch.jpg, The Junghans MEGA 1, designed by Hartmut Esslinger in the early 1990s. File:Junghans_Mega.jpg,

Junghans Mega The Junghans Mega was "the world's first radio-controlled wristwatch with hands" JUNGHANS UHREN GmbH, Schramberg (analog watch) in 1991. It was produced by the German watchmaker Junghans, who had already introduced a digital watch called Mega 1 ...

is the world's first radio-controlled analog wristwatch in 1991. File:Junghans MeisterChronoscope.jpg, Junghans "Meister Chronoscope", jubilee model, 2011

References

External links

Junghans Germany

Junghans America
* {{Authority control Companies based in Baden-Württemberg Watch manufacturing companies of Germany Defence companies of Germany Black Forest German brands Luxury brands Watch brands Clock brands Manufacturing companies established in 1861 19th-century establishments in Württemberg German companies established in 1861 Clock manufacturing companies of Germany

History

Junghans Defence Industry

Junghans Timepieces (Gallery)

See also

References

External links