D0530 - Chronometerwerke Wempe, Hamburg. 2 day Marine Chronometer No: 7609

Fine, two-day marine box chronometer with 56-hour winding indicator. Two-tier mahogany case,with gimbaled suspension. Fusee and chain mechanism, Earnshaw spring detent escapement, 2-arm bimetallic compensation balance with cylindrical weights and 2 meantime adjusting nuts, helical balance spring. Dial and box signed. Dim: height, width and depth: 18 cm.

circa 1965

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

R49 800

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An increasingly large number of renowned watchmakers began settling in Glashütte during the second half of the nineteenth century. Their trailblazing inventions contributed to the outstanding reputation enjoyed by this Mecca of German watchmaking, and their unconventional timepieces earned praise and recognition beyond Germany’s frontiers. In order to synchronize clocks and watches to a single unified time, one needs a reliable time signal to serve as a reference. This signal was transmitted from the observatory in Berlin to the German School of Watchmaking and the manufactories in Glashütte. Resulting temporal imprecision no longer satisfied the standards required for highly precise Glashütte timepieces, however. Glashütte needed its own telescope and its own observatory...

The time was ripe in 1910 when, with support from the Glashütte Watchmakers’ Association, the observatory commenced operations. Glashütte finally had its own time signal and a teaching observatory that could be used by the German School of Watchmaking.

Two watchmakers joined forces in the late 1930s and decisively influenced the course of the observatory’s history. Otto Lange, grandson of Ferdinand Adolph Lange (the founder of Glashütte’s watchmaking industry) and Herbert Wempe, proprietor of Wempe Chronometerwerke, jointly founded the Glashütte Observatory Workgroup for the purpose of establishing both a research and educational institute for young watchmakers and a regulating institution.

Troubled times followed for the observatory with the outbreak of the war. The Allies ended up disbanding the watchmakers’ association in the late 1940s, and the observatory in Glashütte became communal property. In a divided Germany, the observatory was in great risk of being forgotten.

When Wempe decided to establish its own production site for chronometers in Glashütte a few years ago, only one location seemed truly appropriate. Where could time be measured best, if not in the old observatory, that towers high above Glashütte in Saxony. Though this is a comparatively small town containing only 4,500 inhabitants, its name raises the pulse rates of watch aficionados all over the world.

Wempe has since refurbished the observatory, which had fallen into ruinous disrepair, and has now set up its own production site for its watch collection WEMPE ZEITMEISTER GLASHÜTTE .

 

Furthermore, the first German testing facility for chronometers was established here...

To earn the right to be called a chronometer, a watch must prove the accuracy of its rate during a standardized testing procedure, and the timepiece’s precision must be certified by an official testing authority. The reason for this elaborate process becomes understandable when one considers the historical background that led to the invention of the chronometer.

As late as the mid-eighteenth century, most mariners were unable to precisely determine their position at sea because they lacked a reliable means of measuring time. This knowledge is essential for the calculation of a ship’s current longitude. Unnecessary detours and seagoing accidents were frequent consequences. This unsatisfactory situation persisted until 1759, when Englishman John Harrison invented the chronometer. Harrison succeeded in constructing a timepiece so accurate that it could be used to calculate the difference between the time at the vessel’s home harbour and the actual time on board, also making it possible to determine longitude. Combined with the known latitude, the two values precisely indicated the vessel’s current position.

Today, as well, there remain situations in which people are obliged to rely on the accuracy of their chronometers. This accuracy is ensured by independent chronometer testing authorities, the majority of which have thus far been located in Switzerland. At the beginning of 2006, however, Wempe began collaborating in Glashütte with the state offices for weights and measurements of Thuringia (LMET) and Saxony (SLME) to establish the sole German testing facility for wristwatch chronometers in accordance with the German DIN norm.

Wempe Chronometerwerke Hamburg

Wempe, precision watchmakers and jewelers...

the story of a company guided by a pioneering and enterprising spirit, personal service, exquisite quality and perfection.

When gifted watchmaker Gerhard Diederich Wilhelm Wempe took the first bold step on 5th of May 1878 in Elsfleth on the Weser River and set up his own company with a starting capital of only 80 marks, no-one could foresee that this would be the foundation of an internationally-operated family enterprise. Reinvesting his initial income, the 21-year-old company founder then steadily extended and improved his store.

He took special care to create large attractively decorated store windows and display cases. After 16 years he was able to open another store in the royal town of Oldenburg. He was the first German merchant to offer watches, clocks and jewelry there. In 1907 he moved on to Hamburg and opened his flagship store on the 'Schulterblatt'. After only three years, this store had an annual turnover of 100.000 marks. Within the next seven years another four stores in Hamburg followed.

When the Chronometerwerke GmbH began the machine-produced manufacture of marine chronometers and ships' clocks in Hamburg in 1905, this was also the starting point for the Wempe Chronometer Works - a continuing success story today in the production of maritime timepieces. Numerous transatlantic liners, among them such illustrious names as the 'Hanseatic', 'Europa', 'Astor' and 'Aida', have been equipped with these reliable high precision ships' instruments and have carried the clock face-signature 'Wempe Chronometerwerke' proudly across the Seven Seas.

Wempe chronometers have a worldwide reputation that is alive and well even in this age of satellite navigation. The best proof of this is the fact that all German marine research ships have been equipped with Wempe precision instruments and chronometers.

Without a doubt, the mechanical Wempe chronometer of 1989 represents the zenith of mechanical ships' clock-making. This masterpiece proves at the same time that these days only a very few master craftsmen remain committed to the old, traditional values in the field of precision instrument making.

After Gerhard D. Wempe's death in 1921, his son Herbert took over and continued to expand the firm's activities, building on the foundations laid by his father so successfully that by 1929, sales had reached three million marks per year. In 1938 he purchased the Chronometerwerke Hamburg, founded in 1905 by a group of major ship-owners from Bremen and Hamburg.

1945 found Hamburg in ruins and all the Wempe stores with it. A difficult period of reconstruction began, but one which eventually bore fruit after the currency reform in 1948. By 1953 the city could once again boast five Wempe stores. The post-war reconstruction and international expansion were guided by Hellmut Wempe, grandson of the founder. Born in Hamburg in 1932, he entered the family business in 1951, taking over management after his father's death in 1963.

To plan the nationwide expansion of the company, he returned to the principles of the founder: "I will strive to offer my honored customers the best merchandise, the widest selections and the most excellent service". To help fulfill these conditions, the criteria for selecting new store sites were strictly specified: prefer those buildings listed as historic monuments, in the best downtown districts, offering a minimum window-display of 25 ft. This led to the creation of a unique store atmosphere, nowadays almost always enhanced by the firm's signature colors, black and red.

Today, to emphasize Wempe's total commitment to service quality, there is also our first-class service and repair workshop, unparalleled in Germany after an investment of around $ 1 million in 1997. Here, on a specially-designed floor at our Head Office in Hamburg, 30 watchmakers work in a space flooded with light.

Since 1966, Wempe has opened stores in the cities of Bremen, Hanover, Frankfurt/Main, Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich, Duesseldorf, Nuremberg, Berlin, Mannheim, Dortmund, Leipzig and Dresden. International expansion got off to a flying start with the opening of a store in New York - more followed in Paris, Vienna and London. After the inauguration of a store on board the liner Europa in 1999, another opening is planned in Madrid for spring 2000.

In 1984, the fourth generation joined the company: Kim-Eva Wempe, who takes an active part in establishing policies for marketing strategy, the purchase of merchandise and the firm's international orientation.

Since 1994 the firm of Gerhard D. Wempe KG has been managed jointly by Hellmut Wempe and Kim-Eva Wempe.

Chronometer Testing at the German Naval Observatory Hamburg
Chronometerwerke GmbH Hanburg