Christ (jeweler)
| Christ jewelers and watchmakers since 1863 GmbH
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1863 in Frankfurt am Main |
| Seat | Hagen , North Rhine-Westphalia |
| management | Management: Stephan Hungeling |
| Number of employees | 2461 (2012) |
| sales | EUR 373 million (2012) |
| Branch | Jeweler , retail |
| Website | www.christ.de |
Christ Jewelers and Watchmakers since 1863 GmbH is a German chain of jewelery and watchmakers based in Hagen . The company was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1863 . In 1994 it was the largest German jewelry company with a turnover of over DM 600 million and around 2,400 employees.
In 1975, CHRIST Uhren & Schmuck was founded as an independent stock corporation in Switzerland , which has been part of the Coop Group since 2006 .
history
In 1863 Wilhelm Alexander Christ (1836–1927) founded a shop in the Fürsteneck house on Frankfurter Fahrgasse . He was the last certified master watchmaker in the Free City of Frankfurt . In 1874 he moved his business to the Karlseck house on the corner of Weißadlergasse and Kleiner Hirschgraben . In 1904 he handed the business over to his son Wilhelm Adolf , from whom it passed to his grandson Friedrich Wilhelm in 1927 . The listed building Karlseck was rebuilt and modernized in 1933. In 1944 the business premises were completely destroyed by bombs. Shortly after the end of the war, Friedrich Wilhelm Christ opened a provisional storefront in Schillerstraße , and in 1951 a spacious new building at 17 Roßmarkt .
In addition to watches, Christ has also been selling jewelry and wedding rings since the beginning of the 20th century under the motto When the time comes, rings from Christ . A well-known product in the 1950s was the Frankfurt alarm clock , which was sold around the world and played the melody of the radio program of the same name as a wake-up signal.
Over the years, Christ opened numerous branches in several German cities. After various changes of ownership, Douglas Holding acquired a stake in Christ in 1995 and took over the majority in 1997. The company's headquarters were then relocated to Hagen and all the specialist jewelry stores belonging to the group (including Juwelier Weiss ) were brought together under the Christ brand. In 2012, Christ had around 210 branch stores and an online shop. In June 2011 Christ opened the first outlet branch under the name Christ Outlet in Wertheim Village .
In October 2014 it became known that Christ would be separated from Douglas Holding, which in turn had been largely taken over by Advent International Corporation since 2012 , and sold to the private equity company 3i .
literature
- Franz Lerner: The active Frankfurt in the economic life of three centuries. Verlag Gerd Ammelburg, Frankfurt am Main 1955, pages 216-217.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Annual Report 2011/2012. (PDF; 4.1 MB) Douglas Holding , p. 4 , archived from the original on December 18, 2014 ; Retrieved December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ A brilliant story: CHRIST jewelers and watchmakers. In: christ.de. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010 ; Retrieved December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Kirsten Bialdiga: Douglas becomes unadorned. In: sueddeutsche.de . October 27, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 26.7 " N , 7 ° 28 ′ 47.9" E