Aktiengesellschaft für Uhrenfabrikation Lenzkirch
A Black Forest company founded by a music-box maker and his partners, Lenzkirch earned a reputation for fine regulators before the market for them collapsed.
Founded by a music-box maker
Eduard Hauser, the founder of Lenzkirch, was born on 21 August 1825, the son of a teacher. He trained in France and Switzerland and learned precision work making music boxes with Johann George Schopperle, according to museum records published on museum-digital and the UK dealer Jacksons Antique.
In 1851 Hauser and several partners set up the Aktiengesellschaft für Uhrenfabrikation, the clock-manufacturing company of Lenzkirch, a village in the Baden part of the Black Forest. The collector reference Antique Clock Guy dates the founding to 31 August 1851 and names the other founders as Franz Josef Faller, Nikolas Rogy, Johann Nikolaus Tritscheller, Paul Tritscheller and Joseph Wiest.
Antique Clock Guy gives Franz Josef Faller's dates as 1820 to 1887 and notes that Albert Tritscheller joined in 1856. By 1857 the factory was being guided by Faller, Paul and Nikolaus Tritscheller and Hauser, who stayed on until he retired on 1 March 1899.
Fine regulators and other clocks
Lenzkirch became known for particularly fine regulator clocks. Museum records note that it went on making regulators with compensated pendulums and precision movements until the 1920s. Antique Clock Guy adds that it won gold medals at industrial exhibitions in Villingen in 1860 and Karlsruhe in 1861, and that the factory reached full production around 1860.
The range went well beyond wall regulators. Antique Clock Guy lists weight- and spring-driven clocks, including tall-case and bracket models, with cases in walnut and oak, often trimmed with brass. The factory also made its own clock springs and sold them to other clock factories. Objects recorded on museum-digital include an ogee wall clock of about 1855 and several table clocks from the 1880s and 1890s.
At its height the factory employed up to about 600 people, and 480 in 1900, according to Antique Clock Guy. Business was not always steady; the same source lists 1866, 1870, 1876 and 1892 as depression years for the company. The museum-digital records also show Lenzkirch working with other Black Forest makers, including a console clock of 1900 linked to Josef Münzer of Furtwangen.
How to identify and date a Lenzkirch clock
Antique Clock Guy notes that some Lenzkirch cases have the factory name stamped on the back. It also warns that in the late 1870s the firm could not put its trademark on movements bound for certain export markets, so many movements carry no maker's mark at all.
Serial numbers are the usual dating tool. The same source gives two tables. The first runs from 4,600 in 1851 to 1,600,000 in 1928; the second, which it describes as more accurate, runs from 23,256 in 1852 to 2,399,392 in 1930. The two tables do not agree with each other, and the second contains numbers out of sequence, so treat any date as an estimate and look at the case style and movement as well.
See also: naming the wheels, pendulum and plates of a movement on OnlineClock.app.
The end of Lenzkirch
Lenzkirch's specialty fell out of favor as the market for wall regulators collapsed. Junghans took over the firm, and the factory closed in 1932, according to both museum records and Jacksons Antique. Antique Clock Guy says Junghans bought the buildings and ran them as a satellite plant for about four more years, so sources differ on exactly when work at Lenzkirch stopped.
If you want to compare your clock with documented examples, the records published on museum-digital by German museums are a good starting point. They include an ogee wall clock of around 1855, table clocks dated 1880 to 1885, 1894 and about 1895, and a regulator linked to the Furtwangen makers Robert Bichweiler and A. Tritschler.
Questions people ask
How do I tell how old my Lenzkirch clock is?
Find the serial number on the movement and compare it with a collector serial table, which runs from 1851 to about 1930. The published tables disagree, so combine the number with the case style and movement design for a better estimate.
Is Lenzkirch still in business?
No. Junghans took over the company, and the Lenzkirch factory closed in 1932, although one collector source says Junghans used the buildings for about four more years.
Why does my Lenzkirch movement have no maker's mark?
In the late 1870s the firm could not stamp its trademark on movements for some export markets, so many genuine Lenzkirch movements are unmarked.