Florn from West Germany

[Greg Davis]

When it comes to clocks, my interests are SEVERELY limited by the size of my house. Sure, they intrigue me, but they just take up too much space. And one thing my wife is always harping about when I go to buy something large is where I'm going to put it.

So it came as a surprise to me over Thanksgiving when she found this clock at an antique store in Knoxville, TN, and insisted that I buy it. Mind you, the clock is obviously anything BUT antique. It's from the 1960s or 1970s, by my guess, and has that Op Art look that was so popular at that time.

http://home.flash.net/~tryppyr/florn.jpg

When I disassembled it a long dead moth fell out. As I am not a collector of long dead insects, I discarded the antique insect and proceeded to evaluate the clock. It is of about the same calibre as a Westclox internally, meaning it was build for economy, not luxury.

Still, the design elements of this were so striking I wanted to share it with you in the hopes that perhaps one of you might shed some light on it.. and where I might find the one thing missing from this fabulous timepiece (the winding key, which is probably equivalent to one used in a Baby Ben).

Enjoy,

- Greg

150941
Ch.149 member #77

[Greg Davis]

When it comes to clocks, my interests are SEVERELY limited by the size of my house. Sure, they intrigue me, but they just take up too much space. And one thing my wife is always harping about when I go to buy something large is where I'm going to put it.

So it came as a surprise to me over Thanksgiving when she found this clock at an antique store in Knoxville, TN, and insisted that I buy it. Mind you, the clock is obviously anything BUT antique. It's from the 1960s or 1970s, by my guess, and has that Op Art look that was so popular at that time.

http://home.flash.net/~tryppyr/florn.jpg

When I disassembled it a long dead moth fell out. As I am not a collector of long dead insects, I discarded the antique insect and proceeded to evaluate the clock. It is of about the same calibre as a Westclox internally, meaning it was build for economy, not luxury.

Still, the design elements of this were so striking I wanted to share it with you in the hopes that perhaps one of you might shed some light on it.. and where I might find the one thing missing from this fabulous timepiece (the winding key, which is probably equivalent to one used in a Baby Ben).

Enjoy,

- Greg

150941
Ch.149 member #77

[Greg Davis]

Günther, I have no idea what Florn is. Until I saw that clock I had never heard of the company or seen the word in any context. I wish I could be more informative. I was hoping it might be familiar to someone from Germany.

- Greg

150941
Ch.149 member #77

[Andy Krietzer]

Hey, maybe Florn is just the abbreviation of forlorn? Just kidding about that, but it could be another name that is abbreviated. "Kieninger und Obergfell" shortened to "K. und O." became Kundo, "Konrad Mauch" became "Koma",and other similar new names were made.

Andy.

[Greg Davis]

In doing a Google search on Florn, I found two other examples of Florn clocks. One is a desk clock, marked "Germany - U.S. Zone" and the other is a desk pen holder clock marked simply "Germany".

Since mine is marked "West Germany" (clearly dating it after 1950 and before 1991), it seems we have evidence of the company's longevity... and probable evidence that it still makes clocks (or puts its name on clocks made by some other company, perhaps).

By the way, when doing the Google seach I had 17 pages worth of hits, the vast majority of which were for "Florn Lamproids" (a Star Wars alien of some sort) or related (e.g. e-mails for people using Florn in that context).

Regards,

- Greg

150941
Ch.149 member #77