Simon Dilger

Simon Dilger (* 1671 probably in Schollach ; † June 4, 1750 in Urach near Donaueschingen in the Black Forest ) played a key role in the revival of watchmaking after the Thirty Years' War .

Life

Simon Dilger was born in 1671 in Schollach, a sparsely populated high valley community in the Neustadt district. He learned the wood turner's trade and became a cottage trader , that is, he lived in a small house belonging to a farm in Zinken Engenbach, which was called the "Steigdeibissenhisle". In 1720 he moved to the neighboring community of Urach, where he lived in a small house belonging to the lower Roturacher Hof. There he began to manufacture wooden scales and developed into a master watchmaker in the area.

Dilger died in 1750 at the age of 79. His partner was called Anna Rissle.

Works

The resurrection of watchmaking after the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War and its expansion into the home industry in the Black Forest is closely connected with the name Simon Dilger in addition to Franz Ketterer in nearby Schönwald. Due to his technical and commercial skills, his workshop provided decisive impulses for the rise and spread of the Black Forest art of watchmaking.

Anton Ketterer, who made the first cuckoo clocks in Schönwald, was one of his students . Also probably Matthäus Hummel, the hunter climber. But above all his son Friedrich Dilger , who decisively advanced the watchmaking trade in the Black Forest, among other things through the invention of the indexing disk , a tool that contributed to the precise manufacture of toothed disks.

literature

• Karl Karmarsch :  Dilger, Simon . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 224 f.

Web links

• Schollach and the Black Forest Clock.
• The Black Forest watchmaker named Dilger.