Contributed by
Hans Boer
1899
Start clock parts factory by Johann Obergfell in St. Georgen in the Black Forest.
Johan Obergfell was the inventor of the rod chime unit and worked out how to mass produce it . Staff of 50 people .
1918
J.G. Kieninger comes in the company, one of his specialties: Enamel dials.
This is the founding year of the company Kieninger und Obergfell also called
Kundo.
1923
From this year Kundo manufactures also complete clocks, specialty: 400 day
clocks with rotating pendulum.
1926
J.G. Kieninger retires; his son joins the company and owns the company
completely from 1942.
1945
The factory is dismantled after WW2.
1945 -1948
Building up a new factory and company, clock business is doing well and in 1950
the company reaches 80 staff.
1955
Kundo goes to a new building and Kundo produces the first electronic swing
pendulum clock (ATO principle).
1968
They diversify and start production of grill rotating drive motors.
1970
First digital alarm clock.
1971
Quartz controlled battery digital clock.
1974
Kundo at the top of the clock business, 650 people! Kundo is now the biggest
digital clock maker in Germany.
1979/1980
Kundo splits off the quartz movements in a new company: UTS
In these days already dark clouds are hanging over the clock business.
1980
Cooperation with a competitor clock company: Staiger.
1981
Kundo starts a quartz factory in Lake Geneva in the US, as a daughter of UTS:
“Quartex”.
1985
Kundo builds the first radio controlled clock.
1987 UTS became a stand alone company.
1992
Merger with Staiger to “Kundo-Staiger”, also start of the (still existing)
“Kundo Systemtechnik”.
Kundo-Staiger is separated from Kundo Systemtechnik in
the same year.
In England Staiger UK Ltd was renamed Kundo Staiger UK Ltd.
1996
By this year UTS had taken over the production and sales of Junghans quartz
clock movements thus becoming the number one in the European market for quartz
clock movements.
1997
UTS is separated from Kundo Systemtechnik, a new company is formed: “Kundo
GmbH”.
2000 (May)
“Kundo-Staiger” went bankrupt, end of clock manufacturing under the name Kundo
in the Black Forest.
Kundo-Staiger UK went bankrupt May 10, 2001.
Already in 1999 Highway Holdings Ltd in Hong Kong tried to buy Kundo-Staiger to use the names for clocks made in China. This company bought in 1997 the company Kienzle Uhrenfabrik and could use the Kundo-Staiger network to sell Kienzle products too. Kundo produced at that time also movements for Braun, as Highway did.
After the bankruptcy it took some time to see what happened to the brands Kundo-Staiger, Kundo and Staiger. There was a court case in England where the parties were Ferdinand International Marketing Ltd and XTB Ltd, both clock traders.
Finally the company Kundo-Staiger, including the brand names Kundo and Staiger and the unsold stock was sold to Artfield manufacturing Co Ltd in Fotan, Hong Kong.
Artfield also owns the Wehrle Uhrenfabrik GmbH in St. Georgen with an office in Bonn, Germany and in England it owns The Ferdinand International Marketing Ltd (FIM) the former dealer of Kundo-Staiger in England and owner of Kundo-Staiger in Aldershot, Hampshire in England.
All manufacturing of clocks under the name Kundo was transferred to China.
In the same period the brand Schatz also owned by Kundo-Staiger was sold in 2001 to a French company Altitude Ltd in Morteau. See Schatz history.
The name Kundo still exists in St. Georgen, Kundo is now well known manufacturer of all kind of heating control and measuring systems (see www.kundo.com).
Kundo-Staiger GmbH is still in St. Georgen, near to the old factory as a “factory outlet”, selling clocks under the Kundo name, but not manufactured by the company.
The latest clock catalog from Kundo is from 1992 and is becoming a collectors item.
Famous is Kundo with the 400 days anniversary clocks, high quality movements under a glass dome. These clocks have a rotating pendulum. There were other producers in the Black Forest producing the same type of clocks, for example Schatz and Kern (still exists as a clock making company).
But may-be even more famous is the electronic swing pendulum clock, build from
1955 into the seventies, based on an ATO patent and licensed by Kundo or
licensed by Junghans to Kundo, this is not completely clear.
Kundo improved the system to perfection in simplicity, thanks to a brilliant
technician called Fritz Thoma.
His inventions can be found in several patents: 1001190 (1955), 1226045 (1956),
1280757 (1956) and 1758087 (1957) (all German patent numbers).
The electronic clocks have several types of movements:
Movement with jewels
Movement without jewels
Round movement
Stretched movement
Symmetric pendulum
Asymmetric pendulum
Double coil with build-in transistor
Single coil with separate electronics
All movements based on the principle that the pendulum amplitude counts for the swing time, not any electronics with a crystal, and the electronics only feed the pendulum to compensate for the lost energy. Speed regulation is done, as with a spring driven pendulum, by adjusting the pendulum weight. Due to this principle the energy consumption is very low; the clock can run more than a year on a single battery (always 1,5 volt).
The first series electronic clocks from Kundo hat a special battery, called type
825, still available (Otto Frei and PM Clocks), but very expensive; this type of
battery was also used in Junghans clocks from that time.
Later models have a
battery converter with the same shape that can hold a battery type C (LR14).
The
models made in the seventies had only a penlite battery compartment, together
with the separated electronics.
For older types of clocks now the battery type 825 can be replaced by a battery
converter that can hold 2 penlites (AA type) (Merritts, Norkro and others).
The movements have stood the test of time and most are still in excellent condition. If necessary some parts are still available, like the upper drive wheel and the suspension spring.
Most of the damage to these clocks is caused by transport without blocking the pendulum with the special screw from the back; the pendulum is relatively heavy and can destroy the spring easily.
It is more difficult to repair the coil and the transistor system.
A modern transistor has almost an endless life, but those used by Kundo were early
germanium types which sometimes corrode internally and stop functioning, these
transistors are difficult to get (TF 65s or x Siemens), though they are sometimes available on the
internet from 'old radio freaks'.
There is a special problem with the type used in the double coil model The old transistors used had a non metallic housing. Replacement transistors cannot have a metal housing as it would act with the permanent magnet and make the swing unstable.
Also the coil itself has a problem. The coil wiring (very thin, 0,05 mm) is
fixed with a type of tape (like hansaplast) where the glue, possibly together
with humidity, attacks the wiring, leading to (green) copper corrosion and
blocking of the electronic circuit.
New coils are not available anymore; It is sometimes possible to repair the old coil when the damage is
limited to the outer windings . In case of a double coil sometimes one of the coils is still OK and can be used together with an external transistor system.
In all other cases rewinding is necessary, a nasty job.
The name Obergfell, where it all started with, is still connected with Kundo, now with Kundo Systemtechnik, because the managing director still is an Obergfell.
Hans added "Although I tried to be precise please do not blame me for mistakes, and when something is not true or if there is more information available, please inform me."
Hans Boer
Koppellaan 8
7772 AK Hardenberg
The Netherlands
hans_boer@msn.com
Member of NAWCC
Specialized in Black Forest clocks
I am very grateful to Hans for this excellent and knowledgeable contribution. Barrie