KB Watches Rottweil

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KB Uhren was a German watch manufacturer.

Emergence

In 1957 Konrad Bihl founded the company KB electric in Dietingen near Rottweil , which initially dealt with the manufacture of precision mechanical parts and the series production of travel alarm clocks. After moving to a new production building in Rottweil, a diverse clockwork production facility was set up. After the company's founder left the company, Werner Graf took over the management in 1980. The focus of the company had meanwhile shifted: The result was a watch manufacture that attracted attention with unusual models and custom-made products. In line with this, the company slogan was "KB ... the ticking idea".

production

One focus of production was high-quality table and wall clocks. By specializing in small series and on-site production, a large number of custom-made products could be carried out. In the following years, customers who had their advertising designed by KB included Mercedes-Benz , Bayerischer Rundfunk , Henkel , Borussia Mönchengladbach and even the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But also the Saudi royal family, the Federal Presidents Richard von Weizsäcker and Johannes Rau , Michail Gorbatschow and the football association of the United Arab Emirates were among the Rottweiler customers.

Over the years, replicas of street clocks in miniature format were created. The Persil watch, a custom-made product for the Henkel company, is still in great demand with collectors. In its base there is a special movement which transmits the time to all 4 dials at the same time via a cardan shaft. Based on this technology, replicas of the Kröpcke clock in Hanover were developed , as well as the Broadway clock that can be found in New York and San Francisco. When the "Slim Mathilde" was rebuilt in Dortmund in 1983, the first model of this clock was already on the shelves in Rottweil. The Riyadh Tower Clock was only produced in a small series and, delivered in a wooden case, was primarily intended to appeal to the Arab market. The replica of the Paris clock on “Rue de la Paix” belongs to this series as well as the clock on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. This clock at Potsdamer Platz, which was once used as a traffic light, was rebuilt in its old location after the fall of the Berlin Wall . With 5 dials, however, it is somewhat different from the four-dial watches.

Special production

In honor of the pastor and clock tinkerer Philipp Matthäus Hahn , KB manufactured a limited special edition of a cowtail pendulum clock designed by him for the Philipp Matthäus Hahn Museum in Albstadt in 1990 . Another special achievement was the "Moontime" table clock model, a moon phase clock for the Bunz company. Whether oversized alarm clocks or backward-running clocks, there was hardly anything that the watchmakers around Werner and Anita Graf had not implemented: They built clocks in truck hubcaps, in railroad tracks, pipe rings, invented various world clocks and even created them at the request of a steel company Mild steel nutcracker.

The years after 1990

Because Rottweil is connected to the Deutsche Uhrenstrasse , tourists could also find their way into the production facility. A Japanese television station even came here to make a film about the special "KB" brand watches.

When the entire precision mechanics and watch industry went to its knees under the weak economic situation and the dumping price mentality at the beginning of the 1990s, KB Uhren also had to file for bankruptcy in 1994.

literature

  • Hans-Heinrich Schmid : "Lexicon of the German watch industry 1850 - 1980: company addresses, production program, company logos, brand names, company histories." (3rd expanded edition 2017); Editor: German Society for Chronometry eV; ISBN 978-3-941539-92-1
  • Uschi Matt: Watchmaker responds to special customer requests . Schwäbische Zeitung June 19, 1993
  • Ulrich Noering and Friedrich Oehler: Baden-Württemberg: An economic documentation . Steinbock-Verlag, Hannover 1984 ISBN 392195116X