BOOKREVIEW: Hamburg-Amerikanische Uhrenfabrik – Catalogue and Price List 1929 (CD-ROM

[Fortunat Mueller-Maerki]

BOOK REVIEW by Fortunat Mueller-Maerki

Hamburg-Amerikanische Uhrenfabrik – Catalogue and Price List 1929 (Edition on CD-ROM)

by Victor Tang (Editor)

Hamburg-Amerikanische Uhrenfabrik – “Musterbuch D18”(1928) and “Uhrmacher-Preisliste No. 570, August 1929, zu Musterbuch D18 und Nachtrag D22” [‘Hamburg-American Clock Company, Master Catalogue No. D18’ and ‘Price List for Clockmakers (resellers), August 1929, for Master Catalogue D18 and Addendum D22’; (Edition on CD-ROM). By Victor Tang (Editor). Published 2008; in German, French, English, Spanish; Catalogue I-VII, 151 pages, price list I-II, 28 pages; in protected pdf-format on CD-ROM, printable and searchable, includes copy of the required Adobe Reader software. Available at http:// www.Any400Day.com for a cost-sharing payment of US $10 (plus US $5 for worldwide shipping).

This CD is the third in the series that Victor Tang, a clock enthusiast based in Singapore, who had acquired a quantity of vintage German clock catalogues, has started to make available for a modest cost-sharing fee as scans on CD ROM. The HAU/HAC Catalogue follows the Gustav Becker 1912 and the 1927 Junghans catalog, and in my opinion is the best yet in this series. All three are “must have” titles for any collector or scholar of early 20th century factory-made clocks: the originals are extremely rare and cannot even be found in most horological research libraries.

The particularly high value of this disc comes from the fact that Tang was able to find not only the undated 151 page illustrated HAU/HAC Master Catalogue D18 (dated 1928), but the accompanying 28-page price list for clockmakers/resellers, which is dated August 1929. Given that Hamburg-American, based in the Black Forest town of Schramberg, was a very export oriented maker -- its famous crossed arrows trademark was recognized round the world -- these should be of interest to users everywhere. The catalogues are fully quadrilingual with all texts in English, French, and Spanish in addition to the original German.

Tang utilizes a very user friendly setup. Both publications on the CD are protected pdf-files. They can be easily viewed and enlarged (they were scanned at 600 dpi) on your computer, and any page can also be printed (in low 150 dpi resolution) for reference purposes, but you can not copy and paste individual images or textblocks from the pdf-file. The catalogue includes (1) the table of contents by 11 different types of clock, and indexes both by (2) model name and (3) model number. Tang has turned these three parts into electronic indexes to the catalogue, and clicking on the text will take you automatically to the right page of the document. Furthermore the whole text is searchable using the pdf search function, which will easily find any string of characters in the document, because the whole document has been OCRed. A total of 421 model numbers of clocks are described and illustrated.

The price list that was issued in August 1929 to “clockmakers” (resellers) for this catalogue is a separate 28-page pdf file, and also covers the Catalogue Addendum D22 of which no copy is available. In this document there are no internal links, but the pdf search functions will find any word or string of characters.

Thank you Victor for making this series available to horologists at such favorable terms! I am eagerly awaiting the next issues.

Fortunat Mueller-Maerki, Sussex, New Jersey, October 18, 2008

[Xamfap]

Oh No! The web site is down!

[Fortunat Mueller-Maerki]

The website of http://www.any400day.com/

is up and running on Tuesday night at 8.27 eastern time

[zepernick]

Vic Tang's extraordinary series (in case you've not already heard...) now also includes 1927 Junghans, 1928 Hamburg-American, and 1929/30 Kienzle catalogues on CDs. See his website, and stay attuned . Regards, Zep

[v1sauk]

iHello.
Is a problem with this site http://www.any400day.com/. I try to buy these catalogs and no one answers me. He also happened to someone else this? Someone help me.
Thanks.

[richiec]

v1sauk, If you look, this discussion in over 3 years old, the site may have dried up by now.

[John Hubby]

v1sauk, If you look, this discussion in over 3 years old, the site may have dried up by now.

For info, the site is very much alive and well. I've had no problems accessing even today.

If you have any problems with no response from the email address on the site, send an email to the owner at vtang@singnet.com.sg

Keep us posted whether you are able to make contact and obtain the catalogs you want.

[v1sauk]

Thanks John Hubby!
I send an email to the owner at vtang@singnet.com.sg. I talked to Victor Tang,who answered my e-mail.
Going to order the CDs.

[v1sauk]

I received the books, Victor Tang is a serious person.