[HockeyBrand]

Lange & Soehne – Taken from the German founding watchmaker Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s name
Alexander Shorokhoff
Almanus
Alpha Time
Archimede - The manufacturer of Archimede Watches, Ickler GmbH, has more than 80 years experience in the watch industry. This know how is used in developing and producing the Archimede time pieces in Pforzheim, the center of the German watch industry (Gnomon Watches)
Arctos
Aristo Vollmer - In the year 1907, Julius Epple in Pforzheim, Germany, founded the company ARISTO. Three generations long they enterprise under the names Julius Epple, ARISTO Uhren- und Uhrgehäusefabrik. Helmut Epple, the grandchild Julius Epple managed to beginning of the 90's more than 100 coworkers. Because none of the descendants of the family could further the business, he sold important parts of the company to the trust enterprise UTW Uhrentechnik Weimar. In 1998 Helmut Epple found a suitable successor, Hansjörg Vollmer, which acquired the trademark laws to ARISTO Watch GmbH. (Gnomon Watches)
Ars eTempus
Askania Uhren
Bagger & Gehring
Bethge
Blancier Lotterman & Söhne
Botta
Braun
Brior
Bruno Soehnle
Bunz
Chronosport now Guinand
Chronoswiss – A fictional name chosen by German watchmaker Gerd-Rudiger Lang for his Munich-based company
Churpfälzische UhrenManufactur
Damasko
D. Dornblueth & Sohn
Egon Hummel
Erhard Junghans
Erwin Sattler
Forum
Fricker
Garde
George J Von Burg
Germano
Glashuette Original – Taken from Germany’s historical watch city Glashutte
Graf Zeppelin
Guinand
Hacher
Haldi
Hanhart – Named for German founder Willy Hanhart
Heinrich Geisen
Hentschel
Holdermann & Sohn
Jacques Etoile – Francophone moniker taken from the names of master watchmaker and owner Klaus Jakob’s last name and wife Yildiz Jakob’s first name (Yildiz is Turkish for star, and etoile is French for star)
JB-Gioacchino
Jochen Benzinger
John Harrison
Jorg Schauer – Taken from German-born goldsmith, founder, and owner Jorg Schauer’s name
Jubilar
Junghans
Junkers
Kadloo
Kronsegler
Kurth
Laco
Lang & Heyne
Leumas
Limes – Brand fabricated by the German Ickler family
Lindburgh & Benson
Marcello C.
Martin Braun - This is German-born watchmaker Martin Braun’s name
Maximilian
Mechanische Zeitinstrumente
Meer
Meistersinger – Name chosen by German founder Manfred Brassler
MM uhren
Montano
Montblanc – Name of the german-based famed writing instrument company derived from the swiss/French mountain Mont Blanc
MSC uhren
Muehle Glashuette
Muhle – Last name of German founder Robert Muhle
Nauticfish
N.B Yäeger
Niessing
Thomas Ninchritz
NBY – No Barriers Yaeger, a name construed by German master watchmaker Martin Braun, loosely inspired by pilot Chuck Yeager’s name
Nimbus
Nivrel – A registered Swiss name acquired by German Gerd Hofer for his company
Nomos Glashütte – The name of an historical Glashutte watch company. German owner and founder of the Nomos company, Roland Schwertner, acquired the name after the fall of the Berlin Wall
Otium
Otto Berger
Otto Schlund
Philippe Rosen
Porsche Design – Taken from the German owner, and founder of the original licensing automobile brand, Ferdinand A. Porsche’s last name
Rainer Brand – This is German-born watchmaker Rainer Brand’s name
Rainer Nienaber
Rheinmeister
Riedenschild
Sainbach
Scalfaro – Name invented by German founding brothers Kuhnle
Schauble & Soehne
Schaumburg
Schempp
Schmeltzer 1881
Schneider Manufaktur
Sinn – Taken from German-born founder Helmut Sinn’s last name
Sothis – German-born founder and owner Wolfgang Steinkruger chose this name from Egyptian mythology for his brand
Steinhart
Stowa – Derived from the name of German founder Walther Storz
Temption – Name chosen by German founder and owner Klaus Ulbrich combining tempus and function
Thiel-Ruhla
Tourby Watches Hagen
Tutima – Brand name derived from Latin words tuts, meaning certain or protected, by German-born founder Dr.Ernst Kurtz
Union Glashuette
UTS
Volker Vyskocil
Vollmer – Last name of German founding family
Wempe
Zeppelin Uhren



Notables*

Blu – fictional French word chosen for this Swiss Company by its german founder, watchmaker Bernhard Lederer
Breitling – The german - language last name of Swiss-born company founder Leon Breitling
Hermes – Last name of founder Thierry Hermes, a man of French origin, though a german citizen
Kobold – Taken from American founder and president Michael Kobold’s last name, a man of german descent
Rolex – German-founder Hans Wildorf took the name from a combination of the Spanish words relojes excelentes (excellent watches) and modified it

*subject to change/addition

 

[scottw44]

nice resource Brandon!

 

[ncmavtgun]

Good lord, i had no idea their were so many German made watches.

 

[NEG]

Probably better to say German watch brands rather than manufacturers as there a a lot there that use movements from China etc. There are only a handful of true manufacturers.

 

[Christiaan]

Thats all??

 

[G.J.]

Good lord, i had no idea their were so many German made watches.

That makes two of us..:w00t::w00t:

 

[behrman]

Wow! This is a pretty big list.

I'd be interested in knowing how much the list would be whittled down if it only included watch makers that made/used German movements. I expect it would then be a pretty short list. Other than Lange & Soehne, Glashütte Original, Martin Braun (I think), and Union Glashütte I don't know of any others.

Anyone know?

-Ben

 

[Scott D]

Wow! This is a pretty big list.

I'd be interested in knowing how much the list would be whittled down if it only included watch makers that made/used German movements. I expect it would then be a pretty short list. Other than Lange & Soehne, Glashütte Original, Martin Braun (I think), and Union Glashütte I don't know of any others.

Anyone know?

-Ben

I agree, that would be great to see broken out... :thumbup1:

 

[HockeyBrand]

It's a great topic of discussion guys! ANyone care to open the floodgates of the controversial label on these brands?

Made in Germany...Made in Glashutte...etc? :001_rolleyes:

Some Members have already hit the nail on the head and just the other night I was looking at an Ebay "Made in Germany" pilot watch. Buy it now for less than $200. Hmmm, where are these parts from??! :laugh:

Made in Germany with X-country's watch parts. Hence giving a lot of historical watchmaking family's/companies a bad reputation.

This link is an organization which is trying to raise the standard of the growing German brands which were mainly devastated during the era of the Japanese quartz. (Swiss survived and eventually flourished, Germans were down to a handful)

http://www.vdu.org/english/default.asp

One more point, you'll also notice that Made in Germany has become such a controversy over the past few years that the automaker BMW now uses the term. Made by BMW. :laugh:

 

[Scott D]

I think the list should be a list of true manufactures, using in-house movements. I'm certainly not an expert on German watches, but are there any German-made movements that aren't made by the watch brands manufacture? I don't think so, so anything made truly in Germany's probably a manufacture movement.

 

[Ham X Guy]

Probably better to say German watch brands rather than manufacturers as there a a lot there that use movements from China etc. There are only a handful of true manufacturers.

Thats an important point!

It seems that the USA is not the only country that simply brands products that are actually made in China and elsewhere....:sad:

 

[bullosa]

Probably better to say German watch brands rather than manufacturers as there a a lot there that use movements from China etc. There are only a handful of true manufacturers.

NEG made a good point but German Made enthusiasts can pitch in till there are an official classification for the the true German watches. (Not aware there is one, some one more knowledgable pls shine some light here). Just as there are Asian made 'Swiss' watches, 'Swiss Made' then became the Swiss watch industry definition for Swiss watches. There are a number of German name watches made out of Germany. I dont think they qualify to be listed in this catergory. (Note I didnt see any in the list by Brandon that is questionable but I am no expert).

Cheers!

 

[LadyWis]

Probably better to say German watch brands rather than manufacturers as there a a lot there that use movements from China etc. There are only a handful of true manufacturers.

I know companies like Steinhausen are chinese, and just invented a fictitious German name and history to call themselves Germain. I didn't see them on the list, and don't know how many on Brandon's list are like that, with no real German links whatsoever. Lots of those on the 'bay. Then there might be some that do some of their manufacturing in China. Then some are all German, start to finish. By the way, Kobold is made in the US! Except for the name, would never call them German!

If anyone knows about the all German ones, please let the rest of us know!:001_smile:

Also, can anyone explain the differences between Union Glashutte, Glashutte Original, Nomos Glashutte, etc?

 

[bullosa]

Also, can anyone explain the differences between Union Glashutte, Glashutte Original, Nomos Glashutte, etc?

I dont know about Union Glaschutte...but Glaschutte Original (GO) is one of the finest brand based in Glaschutte. So is Nomos. Glaschutte is a Saxon town that was isolated from the rest the world during the quartz revolution as it was under Communist side of the Berlin wall. They boast a rich tradition of craftsmanship in horologie and are known for producing some of the best movements in modern watch history. Hope this helps.

Cheers!

 

[Scott D]

I don't know all the details & am far from the expert, but Union Glashutte & Glashutte Original are cousins of each other. A good analogy would probably be they have a similar relationship that Rolex & Tudor had before Tudor started getting more unique. Similar designs & cases, but different grade movements I believe.

I'm not sure about Nomas.

 

[LadyWis]

I left out Muehle Glashutte, don't know if that's another cousin.

Looks like Nomos Glashutte is unrelated, just someone who bought their name in the 1990s.

 

[alwaysfreewilly]

Nomos has quite a nice history... many months back, I gather information about Nomos from various sources mostly periodicals and catalogs, but never really 'publish' it.

Following:

Nomos existed from 1906 to 1911 under a company called Nomos-Uhr-Gesellschaft Guido Müller and Co. It was finally liquidated because its watches then were 100 percent Swiss in origin.

Fast forward to the 1990s, when Germany was changing and with the fall of Berlin Wall, a young man named Roland Schwertner recognized the potential in classical German watchmaking in the little town of Glashütte. He acquired the rights to the Nomos name, and since then everything of Nomos changed for the better except its name.

Schwertnerand his friend, Susanne Günther, a talented designer, spent the initial months, looking for a design that is suitable for the small collection of Nomos. They decided that the Nomos collection should be of high quality yet affordable.
After much sought-after, they settled upon the Bauhaus principle, emphasizing on ‘form following function to accomplish a timeless yet contemporary design’ for all Nomos watches.

Schwertner believed in the high quality of Glashütte watchmaker’s skills, and with the new law stating that at least 50 percent of the value of the movement must be produced in Glashütte in order to put ‘Glashütte’ on the dial, he stated employing men and women from the region.

With only two watchmakers in 1990, one of whom is Reiner Langeleist, the goal of creating a Glashütte work of art from the Swiss made, manually wound Peseux 7001 was realized. (the man behind the beautiful finishing of the movement)

Schwertner made many improvements to the movements of Nomos watches and subsequently came up with the different lines of watches, and ultimately move towards in-house production of their movements, cases and straps etc etc (a true manufacture indeed)

In addition, Schwertner strived to upkeep the tradition set out by F.A. Lange to maintain a strong community within the town. To achieve so, he gives exceptional working conditions to all of his employees, donates his watches to graduating classes of Makarenko, the local watchmaking school and even raised more than one million euros for Glashütte residents during the great flood of 2002!


Such is fine young man who brought Nomos back to life. However, we cannot forget a few other important people within Nomos that are just as vital to the development of this wonderful company.

1) Thierry Albert – a young, exceptional watchmaker, who developed both the date indication and the power reserve to fit within the small height of the watch.


2) Uwe Ahrendt – now managing director of the Nomos factories, previously employed at A. Lange & Söhne, brought great technological developments for Nomos, enabling Nomos to produce 12,000 watches every year. This figure is set to increase to 20,000 by the year 2010.



3) Mirko Heyne – now 31 years old, famously known as the founder of a small company Lang and Heyne but went on separate ways, made Nomos first in-house automatic movement a dream come true. He works closely with Albert.



Sorry for being too long-winded here. Correct me if any information is inaccurate.

 

[bullosa]

I left out Muehle Glashutte, don't know if that's another cousin.

Looks like Nomos Glashutte is unrelated, just someone who bought their name in the 1990s.

Muhle Glashutte went under receivership the last I hear about it. Dont know what is the latest on it. BTW their SAR model is a great example.

BTW Yuyan, are you still peddling Nomos? Great info...I received their catalog and magazine write ups upon request too.

 

[bullandvodka]

I've heard that a lot of the "Glashutte" manufacturers well put into a collective under the communist regimes of the past. Thus, all the modern Glashutte manufactures are related because they all did time together under the DDR. After unification, they have unraveled and are now separate entities.

Its hard to draw lineage back to the manufacturers of old however as they were all intertwined. A Lange was refounded by a Lange descendant with some financial and technical help from IWC. Not sure about some of the others. Normally I don't like re-birthed companies since they tend to be a just a marketing organization trying to cash in on the reputation of a purchased brand. Nonetheless, many of these companies are about as authentic as I can see a rebirthed company being. Most are composed of many of the same people and traditions as the old ones even if a little intermixing happened along the way.

 

[LadyWis]

I've heard that a lot of the "Glashutte" manufacturers well put into a collective under the communist regimes of the past. Thus, all the modern Glashutte manufactures are related because they all did time together under the DDR. After unification, they have unraveled and are now separate entities.

Its hard to draw lineage back to the manufacturers of old however as they were all intertwined. A Lange was refounded by a Lange descendant with some financial and technical help from IWC. Not sure about some of the others. Normally I don't like re-birthed companies since they tend to be a just a marketing organization trying to cash in on the reputation of a purchased brand. Nonetheless, many of these companies are about as authentic as I can see a rebirthed company being. Most are composed of many of the same people and traditions as the old ones even if a little intermixing happened along the way.

Turns out Glashutte Original Union Glashutte are both owned by Swatch Group.

They put Glashutte Original in their Luxury category, with Omega, Blancpain, Breguet and Tiffany, and Union Glashutte in their "High" category with Rado and Longines.

So are they German or Swiss?