Josef Kaiser (watchmaker)

Josef J. Kaiser (* March 7, 1874 ; † November 1, 1940 ) was a Baden entrepreneur and industrialist in watch production in the Black Forest .

life and career

Josef Kaiser was born in 1874 as the son of Franz-Joseph Kaiser (born 1845) into a family of watchmakers in Baden, which, along with Johann Kaiser, can be traced back to the 17th century and was based in the Black Forest in Upper Austria. It is possible that the family originally came from Vorarlberg .

After training in the "Lenzkirch watch factory" in the Black Forest, which was owned by the Tritscheller family, Kaiser gained work experience in England, Switzerland, Munich and Moscow. Josef Kaiser switched to the watch factory in Villingen in 1914 and after its bankruptcy bought the Niedereschach part of the factory (formerly W. Jerger). During the war, Kaiser had to take over arms production.

After the war, Kaiser switched production back to watches and, like other watch manufacturers of the time, also introduced assembly line work. In 1925, 215 people were employed. The Kaiser company was still one of the smaller watch factories in the Black Forest. At the end of the 1920s it was one of the larger watch manufacturers in the Villingen and Schwenningen area. At that time, the Villingen / Schwenningen area was, alongside Schramberg, a center of the German watch industry. In the 1930s, Kaiser achieved a daily production of around 6,000 alarm clocks, a respectable figure at that time.

The production program became increasingly broad. In 1925 the "Schwarzwälder Spezialuhrenfabrik GmbH" in Mönchweiler was acquired. In 1932, after bankruptcy, Kaiser acquired BADUF ( Badische Uhrenfabriken Furtwangen) and a few smaller suppliers. Kaiser took over the radio technology department from the Badische Uhrenfabrik. Additional subsidiaries such as "Kaiser Uhren und Apparatebau" with branches in Furtwangen, Kenzingen, Simonswald and Haslach were founded for this business area. The watches were sold under the company's own brand "Kaiser", but also under retail brands such as "Madison", "Monarch", "Universe", "Unicorn", "Puck", "Brilliant" etc. The logo of the Kaiser company was a circle with a standing diamond, which was signed by Joseg Kaiser. The standing diamond-shaped diamond goes back to the company logo of the Jerger family and was supplemented and continued by the Kaiser company. Kaiser also used the diamond to seal it inside an ancient dial or inside a stylized gear wheel.

Despite the strong competition, Kaiser worked closely with its biggest competitors such as B. Kienzle Uhren or Mauthe and relied on strategic alliances in export and sales. This also included (illegal) price agreements with the befriended families Kienzle and Junghans.

Kaiser was heavily involved in association work. He refused an appointment to the Baden commercial council during the First World War . Josef Kaiser is considered a generous donor and benefactor of the Catholic Church, so he supported the Freiburg Minster, the technical universities in Karlsruhe and was involved in equestrian sports.

Josef Kaiser died in 1940. In 1937 the son Franz Josef Kaiser was appointed managing director. Ing.Oskar Kaiser, Rudolf Kaiser and Edwin Naegele received collective power of attorney.

The Kaiser company was also involved to a considerable extent in arms production during World War II . From 1945 to 1947 dismantling took place by the French occupiers. Parts of the production were taken over by the machine works Heinemann in St. Georgen.

After the Second World War, the far too broad product range was continued: wristwatches with their own movements, alarm clocks, table and wall clocks, as well as annual clocks and cuckoo clocks were offered in the 1960s. Refrigerators and televisions were also designed and manufactured. In the 1960s, Kaiser and its subsidiaries employed around 2500 people.

The development costs of the various areas let the Kaiser company bleed more and more and prevented the development of really profitable business areas. In 1969 the radio and television department had to be sold to Grundig, and refrigerator production was stopped.

Despite all rationalization and cooperation efforts, the Kaiser company had to file for bankruptcy in mid-1973. Under bankruptcy administration, 150 employees continued to work for some time, but in September 1975 it was finally closed. The Badische Uhrenfabrik Furtwangen continued to run until 1984, but then also went bankrupt.

The Villingen tax office is now located in the former administration building of the Kaiser company. The villa of the Kaiser family still exists in Villingen Bernhardstrasse and Kalkofenstrasse.

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 .
• J. Kaiser watches (watch factory Villingen)?
• "The Kaiser family, watchmakers, engineers and entrepreneurs", Julius Eller publishing house, graphic arts institute, Schwenningen am Neckar around 1930.
• Deutsches Museum, Munich, company publications, J. Kaiser, Villingen.
• Who is Who, the German Who is Who, Volume 17.
• Michael Hütt: Between Headphones and Trachten Hood, Volume 25 of Publications of the City Archives and City Museums, ISBN 978-3-92798768-5 , p. 16 ff.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Helmuth Kahlert 300 Years of the Black Forest Watch Industry , 1968, p. 246.
2. ↑ J. Kaiser, Villingen, Grand Duchy of Baden, brochure of my goods, 20 pages, 26 colored images with logos and coat of arms seal on the parchment cover.
3. ↑ Die Messtechnik: Journal for Contemporary Operational Control and Material Testing, Volumes 13-14; P. 20.
4. ^ Reparations, standard of living, national product, attempt at an economic balance sheet , 152
5. ^ Ricardo Neumann, Südkurier, 1996, The last emperor jubilates in silence
6. ^ Helmuth Kahlert, Years of the Black Forest Watch Industry , 1968, p. 246.