Junghans Museum: History, Calibers, and Watches

nitediver takes us on an insightful journey through the Junghans Museum, offering a detailed look into the brand's rich history, from its 1861 origins to its evolution into a global clock manufacturer. This post is a treasure trove for anyone interested in the industrial heritage of watchmaking and Junghans' pivotal role in it. It highlights the brand's innovative spirit and its significant contributions to horology over the decades.

From the Junghans history to the current watches.

1861 - Foundation of Junghans and early days

American timepieces are popular at the time in Europe , so Junghans begins to imitate them. The company does not only limit to copy the style but also the technology and the efficient production methods. There is a striking similarity between the US made clock on the left side (made by Sessions) and the one on the right hand side, made by Junghans. How time changes: who would have believed that the German's simply copied technology from abroad?

in the 1870's, Junghans moved to industrial production and became the worlds large clock manufacturer.

Of course pocket watches were an important part of the production, and so were alarm clocks - see advertisement below.

The text reads: (above):" I never travel without my Junghans alarm clock" , below "Without my Junghans alarm clock, I would have missed the business."

Bord instruments for the Zepplin's




Junghans also produced ATO electric clocks

Below is a board with various manual movements for wrist watches which previously  had been produced by Junghans

manual wind movement

The J88 column wheel movement which was used in the Flieger Chronograph produced in 1955 for the Bundeswehr

Impressive range of watch movements developed and produced by Junghans

Automatic movements, presumably from the 1960's and 70's

modern Quartz movements for the radio controlled watches

Now we are moving to the last part of the museum, which is part of the Junghans inhouse shop.  

Junghans products and advertising from the 1950s. The title of the ad reads: "Joy on the wrist" and targets the loving wife, motivating her to buy a Junghans watch for her husband.

Advertisement reads "It has to be a Junghans" and targets the parents

Junghans Chronographs , probably from the 1950's. The chronograph on the right hand side is the Flieger Chronograph with J88 column wheel calibre, produced 1955 for the Bundeswehr (sorry for the poor quality picture)

The ad reads: "Lufthansa pilots wear Junghans Chronometer"

Kitchen clock, desk clock and watch  by Swiss designer Max Bill . The desk clock and the wrist watch designed  is still in production. Kitchen clock designed in the 1950s, wrist watch designed in 1961.

1970's and 1980's

1980's


1990's

The Junghans watch boutique features the current collection - manual wind watches, quartz and radio controlled watches. The manual wind calibres are sourced from ETA while the Junghans manufactures the Quartz and radio controlled movements inhouse.

Due to time restrictions, I have not taken pictures of the extensive collection but only from very few watches I like.

The Bax Bill watches are iconic and available in the manual wind , original size of 34 mm but as well in 38 mm automatic versions. Especially the manual wind versions offers good value for money.

Re-editions of 1950s design chronographs - nicely executed.  Junghans stayed close to the original design and resisted the temptation to add a date - good choice!  

My favorite piece  - the Meister Pilot Chronograph. A reedition of the J88 driven Chronograph from 1955, produced for the Bundeswehr. I will cover this watch in more detail in a separate post.

End of part 4