Karl Moritz Grossmann

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Karl Moritz Grossmann

Karl Moritz Großmann (born March 27, 1826 in Dresden , † January 23, 1885 in Leipzig ) was a watchmaker and watch manufacturer in Glashütte (Saxony) .

Life

Training and military service

Karl Moritz Großmann was the son of a mail sorter, attended elementary school and later switched to a private school. After completing this training, he received a two-year scholarship to attend the Royal Saxon Polytechnic School in Dresden.

At the age of 16 he began a five-year apprenticeship with the Dresden clock and chronometer maker Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes . Even as an apprentice he gave lectures on watchmaking. In 1846 he went hiking as a watchmaker . In Altona near Hamburg he took a position first at Jansen, later as a chronometer maker at Krille.

In 1848 he volunteered for the German Army and was assigned to a corps under the direction of the Bavarian Major von der Tann , who later became a general. After Schleswig-Holstein's uprising ( Treaty of Malmö ) was over, he wanted to emigrate to America, but first returned to his parents in Glashütte. There he met Ferdinand Adolph Lange , who persuaded him to take a job with him. After seven months in the service of Lange, the May uprising broke out in Dresden in 1849 and Großmann was drafted into the army again. In the spring of 1850 he took a job at the court watchmaker Biergans in Munich. In October 1850 he moved on to La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, where he worked as a visiter . After only one month, Großmann had to give up this position and return home, as there was renewed mobilization in Saxony . His military service finally ended in 1852.

He then worked as a watchmaker in England , Spain , Belgium and Sweden . After his return in 1854, he founded a watch factory in Glashütte, which he managed until his death. After his death the factory was liquidated.

Watch and other manufacture

Großmann lived and worked in Glashütte in the building Hauptstrasse 44. At Großmann, several later well-known watchmakers such as B. Ludwig Strasser or Richard glasses employed.

In addition to pocket watches, Großmann manufactured second pendulum clocks, watchman's control clocks, measuring tools, watchmaker's lathes , tools and escapement models with various escapements (including minute tourbillons with chronometer escapement and rocker). Großmann's workshop was of particular importance in Glashütte, as it was there that important things were designed, the manufacture of which was less done by Großmann himself, but more often by other Glashütte workshops. Examples of this are the development of the Glashütte Feintaster measuring tool or the Glashütte seconds pendulum clock, a precision pendulum clock that watchmakers often used as a reference clock for adjusting other clocks.

Großmann's pocket watches differ in their basic structure only slightly from the watches of other companies from Glashütte. In contrast to these, Großmann often used an escape wheel with 16 teeth instead of 15. It is also noticeable that the minute wheel shaft is just as thin as the shafts of the other gears and not significantly thicker, as is the case with the other Glashütte makes. Most of his watches are stamped on the work plate under the dial. Watches with a signature on the three-quarter plate are rare.

Großmann assumes around 8,000 pocket watches are manufactured. Many of the works that still existed after Karl-Moritz Großmann's death were completed by other watchmakers in Glashütte under their names, e. B. by Carl Jentsch . Großmann's tools for the production of the Glashütte fine stylus were purchased from Robert Mühle and continued to be used. Großmann's widow sold the residential and commercial building in Glashütte Hauptstrasse No. 44 to Georg Reichel's company.

Mayor and member of the state parliament

From 1866 to 1878 Großmann was mayor of the city of Glashütte and later a member of the Royal Saxon State Parliament . He also recognized the importance of clubs. Especially for the people in the mountainous areas, these connections ensured diversion, variety and spiritual edification.

Watchmaking school

Großmann, who, in addition to his practical work, also received high recognition as a specialist writer, recognized the urgent need to establish an educational institution to train young watchmakers.

At the conference of German watchmakers, which took place in Harzburg from September 5th to 7th, 1876 at the invitation of the Berlin Watchmakers' Association, the question was formulated in item four of the agenda at his suggestion: “Would the establishment of a German watchmaking school or training institute be feasible in Glashütte? ”At the Association Day of German Watchmakers from 9th September to 11th September 1877 the founding was decided. Großmann then went on trips to Swiss and French schools with government support. Under Großmann's direction, a local committee was formed on October 12, 1877 in Glashütte to set up and prepare the school.

On May 1, 1878, Karl Moritz Großmann opened the German Watchmaking School Glashütte (DUS) on behalf of the Central Association of German Watchmakers .

Karl Moritz Großmann died on January 23, 1885 in Leipzig after a lecture on the introduction of the world time .

Publications

In 1866 he published his first work The free anchor gear for clocks. Practical and theoretical treatise , which was awarded in London by the British Horological Institute and made its name known in the professional world.

In 1869, as a contribution to a competition , he presented the Chamber of Commerce in Geneva with a study entitled “ About the construction of a simple but mechanically perfect clock” . In it, he describes the Glashütte watch, how Lange manufactured it based on the numerous improvements he mentioned earlier and how it then became typical for Glashütte production.

Others

Großmann himself often used the spelling Grossmann for his name. Similar to his colleague Julius Assmann, the spelling with double S was probably due to the important export business, especially to the USA.

In 2008, watchmaker Christine Hutter registered trademark rights to the Moritz Grossmann name and founded Grossmann Uhren GmbH in Glashütte. This manufactory produces wristwatches in the upper price segment with around 40 employees; apart from the name, however, there is no reference to Karl Moritz Großmann.

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Claudius Saunier: History of the art of timing . Emil Huebners Verlag, Bautzen 1903, pp. 922–923.
  2. ^ A b Moritz Grossmann: The free anchor gear for clocks. Practical and theoretical treatise . 2nd, completely revised and enlarged edition by Ludwig Strasser. Emil Huebner Verlag, Bautzen 1893.
  3. ^ Curt Dietzschold : The Cornelius Nepos the clockmaker . Krems 1910, p. 13.
  4. ↑ a b c Hans-Heinrich Schmid: Lexicon of the German watch industry 1850-1980 . 3. Edition. tape 2 , p. 196 .
  5. ^ Watch factory Moritz Großmann in: Stadtverwaltung Glashütte (ed.): 500 years of city history . Dresden 2006, pp. 257-258, ISBN 3-937951-31-8 .
  6. ↑ History on grossmann-uhren.com, accessed on May 30, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Grossmann, Karl Moritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grossmann, Karl Moritz; Grossmann, Carl Moritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German watchmaker and manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1826
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1885
Place of death Leipzig