Kieninger
Founded in 1912 to make timers for gas street lamps, Kieninger became a specialist in chiming movements for grandfather, wall and mantel clocks.
From street-lamp timers to clock movements
Joseph Kieninger founded his company in June 1912 in Mönchweiler, near St. Georgen in the Black Forest, according to the collector reference Antique Clock Guy. Its first products were drives and timers, mostly for gas street lamps, and by 1913 it employed 18 people.
The firm soon outgrew its first home, though sources differ on the timing of the move to Aldingen, at the foot of the Swabian Jura. The UK clock retailer Timeshop4you dates the move to 1917, while Antique Clock Guy says a site for expansion was found in 1917, a new factory began production in 1921, and the company moved into a purpose-built plant in Aldingen in 1988.
A family firm of movement specialists
Antique Clock Guy credits Wilhelm Kieninger with developing the H-series movement in 1930, which had an automatic strike regulator. From 1932 the company also made precision measuring instruments for Carl Mahr of Esslingen, a connection that later shaped its ownership.
Joseph Kieninger died in 1936 and his three sons took over. The workforce grew from 78 in 1939 to more than 150 in 1960 and about 200 by 1974. In 1976 the firm introduced a chain-driven movement with Westminster chime and a cable-regulated Vienna-style clock, and a high-quality triple-chime movement followed in 1977.
The family stayed involved for decades. Gottfried Kieninger became commercial manager in 1962 and Rudolf Kieninger joined in 1969. According to Antique Clock Guy, the first 1,000 of the 1976 Vienna-style clocks were made and sold around the world very quickly.
What Kieninger makes
Kieninger is best known for mechanical movements for grandfather, wall and table clocks. Timeshop4you calls it the world's oldest existing maker of such movements and lists patented features such as automatic beat setting, automatic night shut-off, the Kienirmic solid anchor and melody automation.
In 1988 the German Copper Institute gave Kieninger a design award for the tubular chime movement in its grandfather clock model 0087, according to Timeshop4you. The same source says the company works with customers in more than 60 countries, that the United States has traditionally been its strongest export market, and that a new building of about 6,000 square meters went up in 1991.
See also: what goes into a chiming floor clock on OnlineClock.app.
How to read a Kieninger movement
Look at the back plate. The movement supplier Clockworks explains that a typical Kieninger marking such as 81 K 116cm has three parts: a number, a letter giving the movement series, which reflects the plate size and gear layout, and the pendulum length in centimeters.
On older movements the first number is the year of manufacture, but on newer ones it is only an internal engineering code, so it cannot always be read as a date. Stamps such as Original Kieninger and Made in Germany confirm the maker but not the year. Clockworks adds that a chain-driven movement with three weights is likely to be an H series.
Owners, insolvency and the company today
The family era ended in 1991, when the measuring-instrument maker Mahr of Esslingen took over, and in 1993 Kieninger passed to the US clock and furniture maker Howard Miller, which the Schwäbische Zeitung described as its sole shareholder from that year.
In February 2020 the same newspaper reported that Kieninger, then with about 45 staff, had filed for insolvency under self-administration after repeated losses. The business magazine Wirtschaft im Südwesten reported in 2021 that a group led by Gerhard Schneider, a former Kieninger sales manager, together with a Hong Kong customer and two regional entrepreneurs, had bought the shares and the name and was running the business as Kuma GmbH in Aldingen with about two dozen employees.
Recent public reports on the company are scarce, and its trading status as of 2026 could not be confirmed, so check with a clock dealer or parts supplier before assuming new Kieninger clocks or movements are available.
Questions people ask
Who owns Kieninger?
After a 2020 insolvency, a group of new investors bought the business and its name in 2021 and run it as Kuma GmbH in Aldingen. Before that, Howard Miller owned it from 1993, and the measuring-instrument maker Mahr from 1991.
Where are Kieninger clocks made?
Kieninger was founded in Mönchweiler in the Black Forest in 1912 and later moved to Aldingen, at the foot of the Swabian Jura, where the 2021 restart also took place.
How do I tell how old my Kieninger clock is?
Check the numbers stamped on the movement's back plate. On older movements the first number, such as 81 in 81 K 116cm, is the year. On newer movements that number is an internal code, and Clockworks says there is no reliable way to date such a movement without a separate date stamp.