Rudolf Flume technology
| Rudolf Flume Technik GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1887 |
| Seat | eat |
| Branch | Spare parts for watches and jewelry, jewelry, workshop supplies, tools |
| Website | www.flume.de |
The Rudolf Flume Technik GmbH is a 1887 in Berlin founded wholesaler for watches - and jewelery spare parts and tools for watchmakers and goldsmiths. The company was founded by the German watchmaker Rudolf Flume (1861-1919). The company achieved worldwide fame with the “Flume Key”, an illustrated catalog for clockwork identification, first published in 1939. The current headquarters of Rudolf Flume Technik GmbH is in Essen , North Rhine-Westphalia.
history
1876 to 1919
On January 20, 1876, Rudolf Flume, born as Rudolf Karl Wilhelm Flume on March 21, 1861 in Lünen , Westphalia, began an apprenticeship as watchmaker . Four years later, he trained in the area of fittings (watch replacement parts).
The journal Die Uhrmacherkunst , published by the Central Association of the German Watchmakers' Guild and Associations, commented on his career on December 15, 1919 (year 44, no. 24): “Since he seemed a little weak as a child, he was destined for a career in watchmaking. He trained for 4 years in Bielefeld , as far as known, with a watchmaker Hülsmann, from there he came to Ludwig & Friess as a furniture maker. After about a year of activity, he went to La Chaux-de-Fonds in the furniture wholesaler, worked for a Swiss company for a short time while traveling until he set up as an independent furniture wholesaler in Berlin in 1887. "
On May 15, 1887, Rudolf Flume founded the company "Specialist for watchmaking and goldsmiths' supplies Flume and Golmick" in Berlin-Mitte, Joachimstrasse 22. The owners and managing directors were Rudolf Flume and Paul Carl Emil Golmick. The range included clockworks, spare parts, tools, devices and facilities. A year later, the establishment of a jewelry department began, in which initially only watch chains were offered. A total of 14 sales representatives visited specialist shops and at that time sold the Flume range from so-called "travel warehouses". The focus of the company was on the systematic supply of watchmakers with supplies, watch parts, watch chains and tools.
The first move to Gipsstrasse 23 (Berlin) took place in 1889, and due to the growth in the number of employees by now 25, a second move to Beuthstrasse 19 (Berlin) followed in 1900. In 1889, Paul Carl Emil Golmick resigned as co-owner Spezialhaus traded under the name "Rudolf Flume" for the first time. In 1906 Emil Ziegler was hired as a co-owner, in 1909 Walter Flume, son of Rudolf Flume, joined the company. Walter Flume, born on August 27, 1890, learned practical work from the master watchmaker Bätge and continued his education while working abroad in England and Belgium.
By 1914 the company had grown to 150 employees. In 1906/1907 a movement price list appeared for the first time, a catalog with more than 800 pages. The sale of the products was not limited to Germany, the watch and jewelry spare parts were also exported to France, Scandinavia, Spain, England and North America.
To mark the company's 25th anniversary at the beginning of 1912, Flume published a 1150-page catalog, which, on pages partly illustrated in color, consolidated the market leadership of the Flume wholesaler. For the first time, the work encompassed everything from A to Z, from evaporation trays, escape wheels and wind-up shafts to dials and compilations of assortments and tools, seamlessly and with illustrations that the specialist shop needed in terms of equipment. The Deutsche Uhrmacher Zeitung (organ of the German Clockmaker Association) wrote in its edition of September 15, 1911 about the work: “In a finely furnished volume of no less than 1150 printed pages, the watchmaker will find everything reproduced in first-class illustrations that pleases his heart . [...] ... the information shows that the reader is dealing with a very outstanding graphic art product in Flume's anniversary catalog, which one will look for in vain abroad in this perfection and in this scope. " Catalogs, price lists, this Flume edition is an indispensable aid for the modern watchmaker ”, praised the Allgemeine Journal der Uhrmacherkunst in issue no. 10 of May 15, 1912.
Also on the occasion of the anniversary, the Deutsche Uhrmacher Zeitung remarked in issue no. 10 of May 15, 1912: “Like most of our large companies, this company also started small; but thanks to the business disposition of its founder, it has become extremely important. "
Rudolf Flume was particularly committed to maintaining German watch glass production. Under his leadership and leadership of negotiations, he prevented the watch glass market from decaying from 1906, by bringing together watch glass manufacturers, watch factories and wholesalers and founding the Uhrglassyndikat in Strasbourg (VUS) and later the Deutsche Uhrglasfabrik GmbH in Freden . The company founder was particularly interested in working with associations, training companies, support funds and associations in the industry, which he sponsored with donations in kind and money. The Leipziger Uhrmacher Zeitung, for example, described in issue no. 10 of May 15, 1912, how Rudolf Flume “personally avoided the honors for his 25th anniversary”, but used the day as an opportunity to raise large amounts of money among the employees of the house and 1,000 marks each to some associations and clubs.
On December 1, 1919, Rudolf Flume died after a brief illness of pneumonia as a result of flu. The author Walter Döring paid tribute to the company founder in the New German Biography of 1961:
“In just a few decades, he has developed the company to a level of importance that is unique to the professional world and recognized in Germany and internationally. [...] The task of ensuring a fast and brand-specific supply of spare parts to watchmakers all over the world was solved by F. in an exemplary manner with a coordinated system of cataloging and warehousing, which his successors refined in accordance with technical and market developments. The company's catalogs were of great use to the professional world as they not only made it easier for watchmakers to place orders, but also gave a comprehensive overview of the range of products and the progress and experience gained in the trade. "
Wilhelm Diebener, the publisher of the Uhrmacher-Woche , wrote on the death of Rudolf Flume in issue no. 50 of December 13, 1919: “The power of the trading house moved into all areas, every apprentice and assistant, every master in the Reich soon named him Name Flume as his own, and trade relations extended far beyond that to other countries. "
Rudolf Flume was buried on December 5, 1919 in the Jerusalem churchyard in Berlin.
1920 to 1945
After the war years, Walter Flume and Emil Ziegler took over the management. Despite adverse economic conditions, they succeeded in expanding exports, which made the company one of the most important wholesalers for watchmaker and jewelry replacement parts worldwide.
On the company's 50th anniversary in 1937, the extensive Flume book - Das Haus des Uhrmachers - was published, a catalog with 760 pages and approx. 20,000 articles that were manufactured by 1,100 companies. The 16th edition of the Watchmaker Week wrote on April 17th, 1937: This devoted work led to completion! Three weeks later the same newspaper paid tribute in its 19th edition: The Flume company is one of the largest wholesalers among all branches of trade, if you take the number of employees as a basis. [...] It is rightly called a global company.
When the war broke out in 1939, a total of 500 people were employed at Flume on an area of 6,000 m². The Flume letter was sent to all customers for the first time in 1939 . Until 1982, it provided the industry with general information from the watchmaker's and goldsmith's guild, innovations and product offers.
Also in 1939, the later world-famous Flume key appeared , a milestone in clock mechanism recognition. The illustrated clockwork catalog identified all clockworks in detail, so that it was not necessary to send in the movements or the required spare parts for precise identification. The angle lever spring is the fingerprint of a clock and was shown for the first time in the Flume key for clear identification . The identification book appeared over the years with a total circulation of 120,000 and was distributed worldwide. With the Flume key or the “Flume System”, the company performed a great service for watchmakers around the world, because at that time the number of spare parts available for watches was almost unmanageable due to the large number of watch models. Thanks to the organization and orientation system, it was now possible for all watchmakers to find and order spare parts more easily. The Flume movement finder for small watches was (and still is in some cases for antique or historical watches) an indispensable tool for determining movement calibers and movement replacement parts. In the years that followed, other volumes of different volumes followed, such as the Flume large clock key .
In February 1945 the Flume building in Berlin was completely destroyed.
1945 to 1983
Klaus Rudolf Flume, son of company owner Walter Flume, successfully completed his apprenticeship as a watchmaker in 1945, attended the commercial college in Neuchatel in Switzerland and continued his education in the watch and jewelry industry in the USA. The company's founder's grandson finally joined the wholesale business in 1951.
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After the destruction of the company building and the war booty, it was possible to rent new premises at Lützowstrasse 94 in West Berlin, which was occupied in 1949. In order to be able to supply the watchmakers during the Berlin division and the difficult circumstances after the Berlin blockade, the company founded a branch at Habermehlstrasse 11 in Pforzheim, thereby intensifying its contact with the Pforzheim jewelry industry.
In 1951, the company opened a location on the Krupp site in Essen, Westendstrasse No. 1, and operated for the first time under the name “Rudolf Flume GmbH”. At the same time, watchmaker Fritz Heinrich Pachnio took over management alongside Walter Flume and Emil Ziegler. Fritz Heinrich Pachnio made a name for himself with a number of articles for the specialist magazine “Die Uhr”, the specialist magazine for the watch, jewelry and silverware industry, the organ of the Central Association of Watchmakers and the Federal Association of Jewelers and Watchmakers in German Retail.
The efficient Flume system of supplying watchmaker spare parts was awarded the "Golden Medal" in 1953 in Düsseldorf as part of the Federal Authority's Great Rationalization Exhibition . The systematic offer for spare parts supply and warehousing as well as the associated rationalization success were recognized. The "Flume System" has been used by tens of thousands of watchmakers around the world.
For the first time, the "Flume Experience Exchange" (ERFA) took place in Essen in 1955, an industry forum at which the latest technology was exhibited and high-ranking speakers gave lectures. More than a thousand visitors took part in the annual industry meeting. The “Flume Exchange of Experiences” in 1957 dealt with the future of the mechanical watch and the beginning of the age of electric wristwatches. In 1957 the first extensive Flume large clock key from the “Flume System” series appeared .
In 1961 the company moved into a new building at Hachestraße 66 in Essen, which is still the headquarters of Rudolf Flume Technik GmbH today. The company employed more than 300 people in the early 1960s, 200 of them at the Berlin location.
The 75th company anniversary was overshadowed by the deaths of the two company owners Walter Flume in May 1962 and Emil Ziegler in July 1962. Dieter Flume and Klaus Rudolf Flume, Walter Flume's sons, took over the management alongside Fritz Heinrich Pachnio, the 1972 Fritz Möhler followed. In 1962 the special edition Das Haus des Uhrmachers was published , which comprehensively documents the company's history from 1887 to 1962.
As quartz watches became increasingly popular, the wholesaler released the Flume-Elektronic-Service-System (FESS) in 1977 . This catalog was the first to document the measuring points and setpoints for quartz movements.
In 1983, Flume had over 10,000 customers for more than 12,000 watch calibres from stock of more than a million parts. In addition, the Flume jewelry collection offered more than 20,000 models in the medium and upper price range. The specialty shops, goldsmiths and watchmakers were looked after by 17 sales representatives. In 1987 the 60th “Flume Exchange of Experience” took place. In the 60s and 70s in particular, ERFA was the most important industry get-together.
The (international) importance of Rudolf Flume Technik GmbH was also evident in the orders from the federal government of the then FRG. “The international recognition of the FLUME system was on various occasions the occasion for the federal government to support Flume with equipping sample workshops at foreign trade fairs, for example in Bulawajo (Zimbabwe), Athens and Tokyo,” wrote the company in the jewelry spare parts catalog published in 1982.
1990 until today
In 1994 the technology department ("Flume Technik GmbH") moved completely to Hachestrasse in Essen, and the jewelry department under the name "Flume Schmuck GmbH" to Berlin. In 1997 the Berlin branch was liquidated again due to poor economic forecasts and long-term consumer reluctance. A branch in Munich was briefly opened in 1997.
Lukas von Cranach and Rudolf W. Flume, the great-grandson of the company founder, joined the management and focused their goals again on their core business, technology trading. As part of the Wagner group of companies, Dirk Langmann took over as Managing Director from 2004 onwards, another strategic realignment. Julias Sobizack and Uwe Rücker have been managing the Rudolf Flume Technik GmbH since February 2014.
In 2016 Flume took over the renowned Dutch wholesaler for watch spare parts, Friedrichs.
Also in January 2016, Flume took over the complete brand and production rights to the KWM storage system from ELMA Schmidbauer GmbH in Singen. KWM press-fit bearings should be used for the efficient repair of expired journal bearings in clocks of all kinds, in counters, time switches and tariff clocks, manometers, dial gauges and all technical drives.
In April 2017, the mail order company SELVA Technik from Trossingen, founded in 1957, was taken over. At the same time, Flume / Selva established itself internationally with shops in six different countries.
In September 2018, master goldsmith and watchmaker Thomas Krükkert took over management (for Julius Sobizack) and runs the business together with Uwe Rücker.
Flume key
“Flume did a great service to watchmakers in the late 1930s when he introduced what is known as the Flume key. At that time the number of spare parts for watches on the market was almost unmanageable due to the large number of watch models. Flume organized a classification system that made it possible to track down and order spare parts without great difficulty. The so-called Flume movement finders for small watches are an important aid for identifying movement calibers and movement replacement parts. (Pilot's watch Buse, master watchmaker since 1966). "
In watch forums and industry meetings around the world, collectors still use the Flume books and catalogs to find movement parts for historical watches. The company's publications are still available in some antiquarian collections and sometimes fetch prices in the three-digit euro range.
In his "Metatechnischen Kabinett" on his website christophlorenz.de, watch lover and technology fan Christoph Lorenz writes about the "Flume Kleinuhr-Schlüssel K1" from 1958:
“The Flume small watch key K1 from 1958 includes all calibers and work images of the previous Flume keys and works finders from 1947 to 1957 and thus practically all wristwatch movements that have been installed since the 1930s. For every serious vintage watch collector, there is no way around this movement, which is unfortunately only available second-hand in the meantime. The first part lists all works in tabular form, sorted by size and caliber number. Sorting directly by caliber number might have been a bit more practical, but every movement can be found quickly.
The second part shows the dial sides of the movements, sorted according to shape, winding system, number of holes in the angle lever spring and size of the movement. This also enables all conceivable movements from this period to be identified very quickly - although a factory view would have been the icing on the cake for identification, as this would save the need to remove the dial.
In conclusion, it can be said that the K1 is an absolute "must have" for every serious watch collector, as long as you can still get a reasonably well-preserved copy. In any case, the prices are rising steadily ... Rating: Indispensable. "
literature
- Rudolf Flume (Ed.): The Flume-Kleinuhr-Schlüssel K 2. Berlin / Essen 1963.
- Rudolf Flume: The Flume watch key K3. Berlin / Essen 1972.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ From: Die Uhrmacherkunst of December 15, 1919, found in the Saxon State Library, page 637 of 658 , accessed on June 12, 2015.
- ↑ From: Die Deutsche Uhrmacherzeitung "of September 15, 1911, found in the Saxon State Library , issue no. 18 under the title of the anniversary catalog , accessed on June 12, 2015.
- ↑ From: Allgemeine Journal der Uhrmacherkunst from May 15, 1912, found in the Saxon State Library , Issue No. 10 under the title of twenty-five years of success , accessed on June 16, 2015
- ↑ From Deutsche Uhrmacher-Zeitung of May 15, 1912, found in the Saxon State Library , Issue No. 10 under the title of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Rudolf Flume's business , accessed on June 16, 2015.
- ↑ From: Leipziger Uhrmacher-Zeitung of May 15, 1912, found in the Saxon State Library , No. 10 under the title Jubiläum Flume , accessed on June 16, 2015
- ↑ From: Die Uhrmacher-Woche of December 13, 1919, found in the Saxon State Library , issue no.50 under the title Rudolf Flume , accessed on June 16, 2015
- ^ Döring, Walther, Flume, Karl Wilhelm Rudolf in Neue Deutsche Biographie 5 (1961), p. 263 , accessed on June 16, 2015
- ↑ From: Die Uhrmacher-Woche of December 13, 1919, found in the Saxon State Library , issue no.50 under the title Rudolf Flume , accessed on June 16, 2015.
- ↑ From: Die Uhrmacher-Woche of December 13, 1919, found in the Saxon State Library , issue no.50 under the title Rudolf Flume , accessed on June 16, 2015.
- ^ From: Die Uhrmacher-Woche of April 17, 1937, found in the Saxon State Library , issue no. 16 under the title Das Flume-Buch 1887–1937 , accessed on June 16, 2015.
- ↑ From: Die Uhrmacher-Woche of May 8, 1937, found in the Saxon State Library , issue no.19 under the title of 50 years of Rudolf Flume , accessed on June 16, 2015.
- ↑ From Hartmut Wynen's private homepage under the title Electrical wristwatches ERFA 1957 , accessed on June 16, 2015
- ^ Rudolf Flume Technik GmbH, The company: The watchmaker's house
- ↑ German Patent and Trademark Office, trademark entry No. 015103021: trademark entry from February 15 , 2016 , accessed on February 20, 2019.
- ↑ Peter-Jesko Buse, master watchmaker: Information about Robert Flume and the Flume key , accessed on June 16, 2015.
- ↑ Christoph Lorenz, “The Metatechnical Cabinet”: Flume Kleinuhr Schlüssel K1 , accessed on June 16, 2015.