Jakob Kienzle
Jakob Kienzle (born April 12, 1859 in Schwenningen ; † February 25, 1935 in Zurich ) was a German entrepreneur and watch manufacturer.
Live and act
On April 12, 1859, Jakob Kienzle was born in Schwenningen as the son of the grain trader Jakob Kienzle (1820–1859) and Barbara Strohm. When the father died three months after Jacob was born, Friedrich Mauthe , the husband of Maria Kienzle, the sister of Jacob's father, took over the guardianship.
At the age of 14, Jakob Kienzle worked in the watch factory of his foster uncle Friedrich Mauthe, where he learned the basics of watch production. But at the end of 1873 his guardian sent him to Triberg. Jakob Kienzle completed a commercial apprenticeship in a grocery store. The very complex trade in imported goods from overseas, namely coffee, cocoa, sugar, spices and tea, inspired the apprentice Kienzle.
In 1883 Jakob Kienzle married Agathe (1863–1931), the sister of Carl Johannes Schlenker , in Schwenningen , and became a partner in their watchmaking company, which was now called "Schlenker & Kienzle". The number of employees increased to over 60 this year.
The company was so successful that new production facilities for watchmaking had to be purchased. The factory series production of clocks was started, a steam engine with 10 HP powered the machines. The increase in import duties for watches in Austria-Hungary increased competition between the Austrian watch industry in the period 1887/1888. This resulted in the establishment of a branch in Komotau in Bohemia . At that time, about 120 people were employed in the two companies of the Schlenker & Kienzle company. Another ten years later, the workforce tripled through further expansion. In 1897 Jakob Kienzle became the sole owner of the company, but it was not renamed Kienzle Uhrenfabriken until 1919 .
Kienzle made the company one of the most important watch manufacturers of the time. He founded further branches in Milan and Paris and employed 600 people at the turn of the century. During the First World War, the watch business collapsed and Kienzle had to convert his factory to the production of fuses.
In 1919 Jakob Kienzle retired from active management and handed it over to his sons Herbert Kienzle (who later founded the company Kienzle Apparate GmbH, Villingen) and Christian Kienzle.
For his services to the German armaments industry in the First World War, Jakob Kienzle was awarded the title of a secret councilor in 1917 . In 1927, the city of Schwenningen Jakob Kienzle which awarded honorary citizenship and the Technical University of Stuttgart , the honorary doctorate . Jakob Kienzle died in 1935 at the age of 76.
literature
- Hans-Heinrich Schmid : Lexicon of the German watch industry 1850–1980: company addresses, production program, company logos, brand names, company histories . Published by: German Society for Chronometry 2012, ISBN 978-3-941539-99-0
- Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß: Kienzle, Jakob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 589 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Jan Lehmhaus, Tim Stefan Schmidt, Peter Welchering: Kienzle. (= Hencke Marken Library. ) Orell Füssli, Zurich 2008.
- Armin Müller: Kienzle. A German industrial company in the 20th century , 2nd edition, Franz Steiner Verlag: Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-515-10669-6
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kienzle, Jakob |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German entrepreneur and watch manufacturer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 12, 1859 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Schwenningen , Kingdom of Württemberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 25, 1935 |
| Place of death | Zurich |