Winterhalder & Hofmeier

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Winterhalder & Hofmeier was a manufacturer of clocks in Schwärzenbach, now part of Titisee-Neustadt , and Friedenweiler . The company's history begins with the Winterhalder watch factory from 1810. The company name was established by the company Winterhalder & Hofmeier from 1850, continued by M. Winterhalder & Hofmeier, Friedenweiler and Schwärzenbach, in Neustadt oHG from 1869 and M. Winterhalder & Hofmeier GmbH from 1908. Because of their roots in Titisee-Neustadt and the surrounding area, Winterhalder & Hofmeier is counted among the Black Forest watch manufacturers . Winterhalder & Hofmeier GmbH existed until 1933.

history

Initials of the company Winterhalder & Hofmeier from Schwärzenbach, Black Forest on the back of their watches

family business

The company Winterhalder Uhrenfabrik was founded in 1810 by Thomas Winterhalder. His grandfather Nikolaus Winterhalder (1710–1743) was already building Black Forest clocks with wooden wheels and stone weights. In 1816 he settled with his three sons Matthäus, Karl and Thomas in Friedenweiler in the "Old House", which he had previously acquired from the monastery. The workshop was taken over in 1830 by Matthäus Winterhalder (1799–1863). Around 1850 he joined forces with his relative Johannes Hofmeier (1802–1876) from Schwärzenbach, which is now part of Titisee-Neustadt, to form the Winterhalder & Hofmeier company, and the watches were from then on signed with W & H Sch .

The next generation of Winterhalder, consisting of Anton, Karl, Thomas and Johannes, converted the company into a general partnership in 1869, and the third generation into a GmbH on December 19, 1908. The partners in this company were related as brothers or cousins. They supplied Winterhalder & Hofmeier with watch parts from their own independent watch companies. At that time the company employed around 800 people (including home workers) and had a turnover of one million marks.

Decline in the First World War

Orders from England stalled in the run-up to World War I, as a war with Germany was expected there. Linus Winterhalder negotiated in London that the orders from England would continue. His admission was that the payment term was extended from one month to three months. When the war broke out, no more money was received for the watches that had already been delivered. The company suffered as a result. In the First World War, war goods, especially grenade detonators, were produced.

Bankruptcy in the time of National Socialism

After the First World War, the usual export markets were no longer receptive to the Winterhalder precision watches due to import duties, inflation, the global economic crisis and competitors with mass products. The commercial director Linus Winterhalder tried to revive the export business to England by traveling to London in August 1932, but died there on August 18, 1932 of heat stroke and cardiac paralysis. After the death of Linus Winterhalder in 1932, the company Winterhalder & Hofmeier had to stop manufacturing a few months later due to a lack of liquidity in 1933. Forced administration was ordered for the factory premises. The Winterhalder estate in Neustadt was foreclosed in 1937 and went to the city of Neustadt. The company was deleted from the commercial register on June 2, 1937.

Historical precision clocks

Winterhalder & Hofmeier watches are mechanical precision watches made from old Black Forest craftsmanship . The digits of the dials are shown in Roman numerals, the dial is surrounded by a solid, carved wooden case. The watches can be recognized by the W & H SCH stamp. The majority of their clocks were built from 1850 to 1933. The floor clocks (Bracket Clocks) and grandfather clocks were mainly to England , Ireland and the United States , but occasionally also by Russia , Japan and China exported. Today they are traded as antiques on the former North American export market. In Germany there is a private collection of Winterhalder clocks in Schwärzenbach, a district of the city of Neustadt am Titisee.

See also

literature

  • Gerd Bender: The watchmakers of the high Black Forest and their works, Volume II . Verlag Müller, Villingen, no year.
  • Karl Kochmann: Lenzkirch Clock Factory (Part 1), Winterhalder & Hofmeier Clocks (Part 2). Merritt's Antiques Inc., Douglassville, PA 19518, USA 2005, ISBN 0-933396-16-3 .
  • Roland H. Bueb: Winterhalder & Hofmeier. Precision clocks from the Black Forest . In: Alemannisch dunkt üs guet. Issue 2, 2011, p. 58 (Alemannic).
  • Official General Catalog, World Exhibition (1873, Vienna), p. 113 No. 132

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Winterhalder & Hofmeier on Uhrmacherwerkstatt.com . Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  2. ^ Heat stroke in London. In: Rüdiger Gramsch: Where the hour strikes. Out and about with Hansy Vogt on the German Clock Route. Silberburg Verlag GmbH, Tübingen 2017. ISBN 978-3-8425-2010-3 . Pp. 95-103.
  3. ^ Heat stroke in London. In: Rüdiger Gramsch: Where the hour strikes. Out and about with Hansy Vogt on the German Clock Route. Silberburg Verlag GmbH, Tübingen 2017. ISBN 978-3-8425-2010-3 . Pp. 95-103.
  4. ↑ Construction of the gear train of a Winterhalder & Hofmeier clock shown by the watchmaker Abbey Clock
  5. ↑ Pictures of the restoration of a Winterhalder & Hofmeier clock by Ian D. Fowler
  6. ↑ Images of some Winterhalder & Hofmeier clocks
  7. ^ Karl Kochmann: Lenzkirch Clock Factory (Part 1), Winterhalder & Hofmeier Clocks (Part 2). Merritt's Antiques Inc., Douglassville, PA 19518, USA 2005. ISBN 0-933396-16-3 .
  8. ↑ Keyword in any search engine: Winterhalder clocks. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
  9. ^ Exhibition of Winterhalder & Hofmeier clocks in the Café Feldbergblick in Schwärzenbach . Retrieved February 9, 2012.