Lacher & Co Pforzheim History of the Manufactory

In 1925, Frieda Lacher and Ludwig Hummel founded a watch factory in Pforzheim under the name Lacher & Co.
In the first few years, they primarily reassembled complete  watch movements or imported individual parts, casing them in both their own and purchased cases.

In 1932, the two founders went their separate ways. A short time later, Frieda Lacher founded a new company (Frieda Lacher Precision Parts Factory), which specialized in the production of precision watch parts.

The LACO watch factory was continued by Ludwig Hummel and continued to produce LACO  watches.

The development of Lacher & Co (LACO) into a company of world renown and Pforzheim's largest watch factory took place entirely under the direction of Ludwig Hummel.

In 1933, he founded DUROWE (Deutsche Uhren Rohwerke).

By manufacturing his own watch movements, he achieved independence from Swiss and other manufacturers. Not only did LACO equip its own models with DUROWE movements, but numerous other manufacturers also relied on these reliable ebauche movements.

In 1936, Erich Lacher, Frieda Lacher's son, joined her branch of the company and eventually took over its management. For this reason, the company was renamed Erich Lacher Uhrenfabrik. It began producing complete watches once again.

During World War II, LACO supplied the Luftwaffe with its famous pilot watches and the Navy with its equally well-known deck or observation watches (pocket watches with fully luminous dials). Both the pilot and marine watches were equipped with the high-quality DUROWE D5 caliber, a 22-ligne bridge lever movement.

On February 23, 1945, Pforzheim was 80% destroyed. The LACO factory building was also reduced to rubble and ashes.
However, by 1949, Ludwig Hummel had already erected an imposing 5-story factory building.

By the mid-1950s, LACO already employed 1,400 people and was producing 80,000 movements per month, as well as thousands of complete watches with the LACO logo.

On February 2, 1959, Ludwig Hummel sold his companies Laco Uhrenfabrik, Deutsche Uhrenrohwerke (Durowe), and the jewel bearing factory Ludwig Hummel & Co. to the US watch giant US Time Corporation "TIMEX".

In 1965, the Swiss company "Ebauches SA" bought "DUROWE" and "Lacher & Co". The production of mechanical watch movements in Pforzheim was discontinued at the end of the 1970s.

In September 1988, the managing partner at the time, Horst Günther, acquired the naming rights to the "Laco" brand from the defunct company Lacher & Co.

In 1994, Horst Günther's son, Andreas Günther, took over the management of the company. Under his leadership, with the renaissance of mechanical watches, Laco watches were once again equipped with mechanical Swiss movements alongside quartz watches, just as they had been in the second half of the 1920s.

In July 2000, for the 75th anniversary of LACO (Lacher und Co.), a 75-piece replica series of the legendary Laco pilot watch was produced, largely using remaining original parts. Parts that were no longer available, including the train bridge, had to be reproduced in a small series. These unique pieces were sold at a unit price of 7,500 DM.

On June 30, 2009, the watch factory Erich Lacher & Co. KG filed for insolvency at the Pforzheim District Court.

In October 2009, the company was taken over by Kienzle AG, and the "Kienzle Lacher Uhrenmanufaktur GmbH" was founded for this purpose.

At the beginning of 2010, however, Kienzle itself had to file for insolvency, putting the newly rescued Laco company back in danger. The Pforzheim team, however, managed to break away from Kienzle and find a new investor. Eventually, the company "Erich Lacher Uhrenfabrik GmbH und Co. KG" was dissolved and renamed "LACO Uhrenmanufaktur GmbH".