TIME AFTER TIME

A view of the innovation of pioneering German watch brand Junghans, and its Max Bill collection that has a legion of fans

- Somya Rauthan

While Switzerland is a flagbearer of luxury, high-quality timepieces and Japan stands out for balancing innovation with affordability, Germany's is a tale of technical prowess balanced with design (turn to pg 86 to learn how Glashütte in Saxony became a watchmaking hub). A brand that personifies this is Junghans. Originating from Germany's Black Forest region, Junghans's history is rife with watchmaking laurels, and it is today known for its minimal and modern approach to design.

Junghans's tale began, specifically, in the small town of Schramberg, when Erhard Junghans along with his brother-in-law Jakob Zeller-Tobler established the watch component factory Zeller & Junghans, on April 14, 1861. By 1866, the brand was producing clocks, which led to its massive success, which in turn laid the foundation for it to become a leading timepiece manufacturer over the next four decades. By 1903, Zeller & Junghan was producing three million clocks per year. With precision at the heart of its work, the brand built a nine-stepped terrace building in Schramberg in 1918 to manufacture highprecision pieces.

Early Innovations

However, it was in 1927 that the brand began to craft, along with clocks, wristwatches for the market and the German Air Force 'Bundeswehr. It put its foot on the pedal with the in-house designed Calibre J80/2 in the Meister (meaning 'Master') series, which launched in 1930. Calibre J80 beat at 18,000 vph, had a sweep second function, and was decorated with Côtes de Genève. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the brand became one of the world's largest chronometer manufacturers, and in 1957 developed its first automatic chronometer Calibre J83, one of the finest chronometer movements ever constructed in Germany, and considered by collectors to be one of the most important Junghans calibres. The movement has a powerful rotor that winds in both directions by a gear changer, and offers a power reserve of 40 hours.