Ridgeway Grandfather clock Maker?

[TEACLOCKS]

Doe's Kieninger make Ridgeway Grandfather clocks ?

 

[JTD]

Doe's Kieninger make Ridgeway Grandfather clocks ?

Do you mean do Ridgeway Clocks have Kieninger movements?

JTD

 

[Willie X]

Nearly all Ridgeways will have Urgos movements.

A single photo of the movement back plate can tell the tale. Willie X

 

[TEACLOCKS]

Sorry
Doe's Kieninger make NEW Ridgeway Grandfather clocks ?

 

[TEACLOCKS]

OR
Who Makes NEW Ridgeway Grandfather clocks

 

[Willie X]

H-M bought the brand back around 2000 and they are make in H-M's factories. I would expect the clocks to be identical, or close to it, except for the dial emblem and paperwork?

Sort of like Chevy and GMC pickups, Dodge Durango and Jeep Cherokee, etc. etc. etc.

Willie X

 

[J. A. Olson]

Many Ridgeways from 1980 onward started using HERMLE movements as the Urgos movements were gradually weaned out of production.
Here we see the innards of a Ridgeway No. 130 'Lady Madeline' with an original Hermle movement.



Ridgeway was bought up by Howard Miller (HM) in 2004 and began production at HM's facility in 2005, there is no real difference between HM and Ridgeway besides the name on the dial. The Kieninger movements used by HM are the same as those used for modern Ridgeway.

That's the way a lot of industries ended up from the 1980's onward, bought up by bigger companies and reduced to a superficial brand.
Using the same parts and materials as one another... Don't tell that to the chicken sandwich crowd. Hah!

 

[TEACLOCKS]

H-M bought the brand back around 2000 and they are make in H-M's factories. I would expect the clocks to be identical, or close to it, except for the dial emblem and paperwork?

Sort of like Chevy and GMC pickups, Dodge Durango and Jeep Cherokee, etc. etc. etc.

Willie X

H-M
Is this Howard Miller ?

Sorry did not see this
Ridgeway was bought up by Howard Miller (HM) in 2004
So the people on line that say they have Ridgeway are Howard Miller ?

 

[Willie X]

In my book, if it has Ridgeway on the dial, it's a Ridgeway. This simplifies things somewhat.

S-T and Plymouth are the same clock, both made by S-T but I would call them by their brand too. It's confusing any way you slice it.

Even more confusing, I once saw a load of GM pickups, they all came off the same assembly line. They all had Chevy Cheyenne on the fenders and GMC on the grills. So ... were they Chevys with GMC grills, or GMCs with Chevy emblems on the fenders??

Go figure, Willie X

 

[Andy Dervan]

Two corrections:

Howard Miller purchased Kienninger in 1993, and it acquired Ridgeway in 2005 (actually for the name only so it could produce another line of clocks).

Andy Dervan

 

[J. A. Olson]

There is virtually no difference between the modern Howard Miller and Ridgeway lines besides the brand name and some minor details.
One can see that the Ridgeway 'Darcy' is the same as the Howard Miller 'Urban II'. The only differences being brand name and numerals.

See the weblinks here:

Darcy Grandfather Clock

Darcy Grandfather Clock

ridgewayclocks.com

610866 Urban Floor Clock II

Howard Miller Urban Floor Clock II

howardmiller.com

Prior to its acquisition by Howard Miller, Ridgeway had strayed away from its primary line of affordable grandfather clocks and tried touting a bunch of limited edition clocks with all sorts of deluxe gimmicks. Quality control wasn't consistent and there were more of these clocks made than people who really wanted them. The simple truth is the grandfather clock boom of the 1980's had dissipated by the early 2000's and Ridgeway tried everything it could to stay afloat.

Ridgeway's last flagship clock was the 'Independence', a mammoth that played America the Beautiful, God Bless America, and Westminster chimes. It was touted on the Ridgeway website between 2003-2005 and used a Hermle movement.



"And that's the way it is."

 

[Willie X]

Or 'was'.

One model had a light inside the filigree brass pendulum bob and another had a thick high quality cut glass pendulum bob that really sparkled. I think they zoomed past fancy and made it all the way to gaudy.

My 2, Willie X