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The name Junghans is familiar to many watch enthusiasts, even if they have no idea of the brand’s former or current glory. Today it is best known for its German-made watches. Incorporating Bauhaus elements from legendary designer Max BillAt one point in the early 20th century, Junghans was the world’s largest watch manufacturer. Given that the brand is over 200 years old, it seems time has come for the amazing story of his brand’s history to become common knowledge.
the beginning
Erhard Junghans was born on January 1, 1823 to Barbara and Nikolaus, who worked in knitting and intaglio printing. As the Industrial Revolution spread to smaller towns, the family moved from Holb am Neckar to the Black Forest town of Schramberg in 1841. Nikolaus Junghans took a job at the pottery factory Uechtritz & Feist, while 18-year-old Erhard began a two-year apprenticeship making hats at a local straw factory. He continued to work in a factory making straw hats and traveled back and forth between Switzerland and France to improve his language skills, which clearly impressed his boss’s daughter Louise Tobler. Erhard married Louise in 1845 and they had eight children, but their youngest son tragically died in 1860 at the age of two.
Erhard’s father-in-law and straw factory owner died in 1854, and Junghans was promoted to partner and managing director. Although he was successful in his role, he was denied a raise and decided to quit the company and start a new venture with his brother-in-law, Jacob Zeller Tobler. The two decided to open a refinery in 1859, but the business quickly failed. Undaunted, they pivoted to making watch parts at the suggestion of Ferdinand von Steinbeis, an influential politician and advocate of industrialization. With the help of Erhard’s brother Xaver, who immigrated to the United States as a carpenter in 1847, Junghans was built from the ground up on American business practices throughout the 1860s, and Jacob Zeller Tobler retired. Despite having no experience in watchmaking, Erhard Junghans succeeded in founding a company that became a global powerhouse.
While we view the amazing advances of the Industrial Revolution as bringing us one step closer to modern life, unfortunately the medical field left much to be desired. In the fall of 1870, Erhard Junghans died of a sore throat at the age of just 47. He left a clear wish to pass on the Junghans watch factory to his three surviving sons, Erhard II, Arthur and Georg.
The Adventures of Arthur Junghans
While his widow Louise ran the company from 1870 to 1875, young Arthur Junghans’ life unfolded like a strange movie. He completed his apprenticeship as a watchmaker and attended technical school in Stuttgart, but was actually fighting as a volunteer officer in the Franco-Prussian War when he heard the news of his father’s death. He briefly returned to Schramberg, but was ordered by his mother to follow in the footsteps of his uncle, Xavaa. Traveling to America and assuming a false name, Arthur Junghans worked in factories and studied American methods, taking any role he could, including janitor, blacksmith, and lithographer. He returned to the family business in late 1873 and began implementing reforms, much to the dismay of his employees.
American capitalist efficiency brought success to Junghans, and Louise, in accordance with Erhard’s wishes, handed over control to her sons. Erhard II was in charge of the business and technical management aspects, while Arthur was in charge of the rest. There was no place for Georg as he was only 14 years old, but he later became technical director of Siemens & Halske, Europe’s largest industrial manufacturing company, now worth around 150 billion euros. After many years of producing all kinds of watches and parts with great success, Junghans attempted to produce his own pocket watches, making several attempts between 1883 and 1894. These humiliating failures led them to make another very American “if you can’t win” watch. , a business decision was made and in 1900 they merged with the experienced Thomas Haller Company.
Junghans’ success and Arthur’s automobile invention
By 1903, Junghans’ Schramberg factory was the world’s largest watchmaking company, employing 3,000 people and producing 3 million watches a year. Erhard II left the company in 1897, but Arthur remained a passionate man. Arthur Junghans was also close to Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, which enabled him to become an important figure in the automobile industry. While driving the Daimler prototype, a defective fuel line causes Maybach’s clothing to catch fire, and Arthur saves him by throwing him into nearby water. Later, he proposed to Daimler the invention of electric ignition, and also replaced the unwieldy lever that once sent the steering wheel into a pile of shit like a scene from Back to the Future in the 1900s. We also invented worm gear steering so that it could be used.
Arthur Junghans’ management of the company continued to be successful throughout World War I, including being one of the first to adopt luminous (radium) paint for the hands of pocket watches and alarm clocks in 1912. In 1906, the company also began manufacturing ammunition fuses. However, Arthur died in 1920 at the age of 68, and his sons Irwin and Oscar took over the business. The rise of the wristwatch hit Junghans in 1928, and although the company initially purchased movements, from 1930 it was entirely manufactured in-house.
Production shifts during World War II
World War II was a dark time for everyone, but when the Nazi Party seized power in 1933, thousands of factories across the country were turned to the war effort. Already producing large quantities of fuzes, Erwin Junghans, as general manager, received orders for armaments and continued to manufacture various fuses for aircraft and ships, as well as precision clocks. Schramberg alone had over 9,000 employees, and its old factory mainly produced large quantities of detonators. Towards the end of the war, the factory housed 862 prisoners of war and forced laborers. At the end of the war, much of the machinery was dismantled and taken to France, where watch production resumed in 1946. Even then, Junghans was forced to export blank movements to French manufacturers under its own name.
Perhaps overcompensating for the damage to its reputation in Germany, Junghans focused exclusively on high-quality watches in the late ’40s and early ’50s, quickly becoming one of the world’s largest chronometer manufacturers. Sadly, the Junghans family was removed from the company in a hostile takeover by Diehl in 1956, and the watchmaking and fuse businesses were further separated. Diehl still owns Junghans Defense, which manufactures artillery fuses with the same eight-pointed star logo used since 1890.
One positive thing about 1956, however, was the collaboration with Max Bill, the Swiss artist who designed the popular Bauhaus-style Junghans teardrop kitchen clock. He continued to work with the brand throughout the 1960s, imbuing a variety of gorgeous watches with his minimalism and communicative perfection.
The eventful end of the 20th century
Junghans’ survival in the second half of the 20th century was truly admirable, considering the difficulties faced by all watch manufacturers with the rise of Swiss sports watches such as Rolex and Rolex. Quartz crisis threatens mechanical watchmaking globally. Junghans released Germany’s first quartz watch in 1971 and served as the official timekeeper for the 1972 Munich Olympics, but in 1976 they were forced to temporarily suspend production of mechanical watches. Although the company pioneered radio control in the 90s and introduced the Junghans Mega as the first radio-controlled watch in 1991, the company was struggling.
When Diehl Group finally sold the watch division of Junghans GmbH, it had just 220 employees. The company was sold to a holding company in 2000, but the global financial crisis of 2008 reduced its workforce to 115 and forced it to file for bankruptcy. Thankfully, Schramberg locals Hans Jochem and Hannes Steim took over the company in 2009. We achieved rapid sales growth.
Since then, the return to father and son ownership has been a huge benefit for Junghans. The company celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2011 and has continually rebuilt its reputation with both affordable and luxury models. In 2018, the Junghans Terrassenbau Museum opened over nine floors, celebrating the history of clocks and watches in the Black Forest.
Junghans contemporary catalog
With a very long history, Junghans has a lot to celebrate. There are many collections that explore different methods. The Max Bill remains one of the most iconic Bauhaus watches.. In the 1972 collection, Racing style chronograph reissueForce Mega Solar, which celebrates the brand’s exploration of the early ’90s, and Form, which heightens the blockiness and simplicity of Bauhaus.
The Junghans Meister Pilot Chronoscope Dessert is particularly smooth; In 2023, it features a sandy gradient dial that expresses a powerful yet calming desert aesthetic.. The slender wavy bezel gives the case an attractive and delicate look despite its thickness of 14.4 mm, while the 43.3 mm diameter case gives it a solid presence on your wrist. Caliber J880.4 is based on the ETA 2892 with a Dubois Despraz 2030 chronograph module and offers the perfect balance of affordability, superior specifications and reliability. Also water resistant up to 100 metersSo you can also swim with an alternative 22mm strap.
The Meister Calendar is a beautiful example of traditional watchmaking executed harmoniously, maximizing the space on the dial to allow ventilation around the complication. This is a triple calendar, with a moon phase display built into the pointer date subdial, and the day and month displays with beveled windows. Once again, Caliber J800.3 is based on the ETA 2824-2 with Dubois-Depraz module. If you don’t want Max Bill, but appreciate Junghans’ classicism, the Meister Calendar is a great choice.
Of course, the Max Bill deserves a special mention as it is perhaps the most famous of all Junghans watches. Every element is precisely placed, from the inner Arabic numerals to the hour markers that run down to the minute markers. Everything has been kept as thin as possible, but the strong black print stands out and is easy to read on the silver dial. The silver hands point exactly where they need to be on the dial and have enough lume to be visible even in the dark. The date window is neatly hidden at 3 o’clock and the numerals are completely replaced, so there is no unnatural cropping. The 38mm case fits most wrists, and the caliber J800.1 is a Sellita SW200-1 with a customized rotor. Priced at 1,375 euros (approximately $1,465), it’s perfect for smart casual everyday wear.
