Schlenker and Kienzle

[celticprince59]

Hi all,

I take it that this is a Schlenker and Kienzle movement but what is putting me off a bit is the shield around Mercury(Greek) or possibly depicting what the Romans associated with Wotan the Germanic equivalent. Please let us have plenty of comments

Andy

 

[soaringjoy]

Andy, it is true that Schlenker-Kienzle used almost the same Mercury logo - alas it was and early one
and appeared mostly on massive, French style movements with a countwheel strike.
Your movement is ca. 1930s with quick-out barrels and rack and snail strike. Long story short, it's a Karl Lauffer, Schwenningen,
movement.
The Mercury head in the shield is known, but not yet completely verified. The "Lexikon" has it listed as "Kienzle (?)", so now we've got
a bit more evidence that may make research a bit easier. The mark may have belonged to a wholesaler.

 

[Albra]

Greetings Andy,

Jürgen is right: your movement was made by Karl Lauffer in Schwenningen. And we assume, the logo is also Karl Lauffer and intended to be a runner and not a mercury (the German name "Lauffer" means runner).

And here you can find the detailed history of this logo in German language:

http://www.dg-chrono.info/dg-chrono.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=2285

Enjoy this little fairy tale!

albra

 

[celticprince59]

Hi Jurgen/Albra/Harold,

Thank you all for the insight to this mark. Albra I cannot find the info of your link http://www.dg-chrono.info/dg-chrono....hp?f=95&t=2285 I am registered on the site so maybe I am looking in the wrong place.

I was in contact with Andreas Schroter from http://www.mikrolisk.de (apologies cannot find the Umlat key for the O) and he mentioned that he had not seen Wotan (Mercury) within a shield before. I sent him a pic of the plate so no doubt he will be in contact with some of us. I did not want to send your comments to him without your permission.

Andy

 

[Mikrolisk]

So, what do we have? The movement is not just marked with the Lauffer-logo, it is from Karl Lauffer. I think, the hint to Wotan (and Schlenker&Kienzle) was just wrong here, the whole clock is from Karl Lauffer.

Andreas

(btw, the german special character 'ö' can be also written as 'oe', as it is an old ligation of those two letters, the old 'e' looked like two vertical lines, and it wandered up on top the 'o' - same for the letters 'ä' and 'ü')

 

[Albra]

Andy, I have checked it: The logo on your movement has not been registered in Germany for a manufacturer or distributor. That's for sure.

You´re right: Kienzle had a very similar logo, but more than 40 years earlier. And it is this tale, whose link you unfortunately can not open: The companies Kienzle and Karl Lauffer were in the same city. Karl Lauffer has its operation given this logo in order to make clear his name "Lauffer", but Kienzle was not amused about it ...

albra

 

[celticprince59]

Thank you Andreas for the explanation of the umlaat. In our other language here, Afrikaans, there are words with the umlaat but it does not always change the way it is pronounced.

Thanks again for the insight into the logos.


Andy

 

[celticprince59]

Hi Albra,

It is strange that no one registered the trademark, maybe they were short of "geld" lol. I would be nice to find out why it was never done.

Thanks again for the discussion on this mark.

Andy

 

[Albra]

Hi Albra,

It is strange that no one registered the trademark, maybe they were short of "geld" lol. I would be nice to find out why it was never done.

Thanks again for the discussion on this mark.

Andy

Andy, no, the surprise for me is not very large, that the logo on your movement has not been registered. About 4 years ago I have systematically collected all ever recorded logo and brand names of clocks and pocket watches in Germany. Two points I became conscious:

- A logo can already be in use for many years before it was registered. For example, we know a logo of Junghans, which is already illustrated in the catalog in 1910, but was registered only in 1917.

- I've noticed that about 30% of all logos and brand names never have been registered. Although we know logos and brand names in advertisments with the addition "Geschützt", but in reality, no registration have ever been made.

This is particularly troublesome in the matter that we can not be sure even with a known registration, that a brand name, a logo or even the use of a patent can give us secure conclusions about the exact age of a clock.

Even though we would wish that as a collector a lot. Tja.

albra