Military watch manufacturer F. Löbner Berlin

German manufacturers of military watches:
Watch factory FL Löbner, Berlin

 

Watch collectors frequently encounter the company name FL Löbner, Berlin, in connection with a wide variety of watch types. The range extends from the simplest cylinder watch with six jewels, through wristwatches, Geneva and Glashütte precision pocket watches, to the finest precision pendulum clocks and scientific instruments for short-term timekeeping.

Company history
It all began with Franz Ludwig Löbner, born on September 26, 1836, in Torgau, the son of a master wood turner. After finishing school, he began an apprenticeship with master watchmaker Otto. His years of travel took him first to Leipzig and then, at the age of 21, to Berlin in 1857. Five years later, he passed his master craftsman's examination there and founded his own business on October 1, 1862. The founding years of the second half of the 19th century offered great opportunities for a diligent and talented watchmaker, but the young Löbner also had to compete with men like Eppner and Thiede, who were active in Berlin at the time. He evidently possessed not only a very sound business sense, but also outstanding skills in the field of practical and theoretical watchmaking. His shop, which was founded at Potsdamer Str. 11 and, after several address changes around Potsdamer Platz, finally found its final location at Potsdamer Str. 23, offered watches from a wide variety of manufacturers, some of which also bore the logo "FL Löbner, Berlin."

From the outset, the company's own development and design activities focused on short-time measuring devices such as the well-known tertiary counters or, for example, a clock for measuring 1,000ths of a second with a dial diameter of 3 m, illustrated in the 1895 issue of the German Watchmaker's Journal. One of its last works was the so-called "Eternal Calendar" in the reading room of the German Reichstag, a clock equipped with a perpetual calendar for the next 2,000 years, displaying the day, date, month, year, and moon phase.

Franz Ludwig Löbner handed over his company to Otto Fritz in 1897 and died in Berlin on June 16, 1921, at the age of 85. He did not live to see his "Perpetual Calendar" destroyed in the Reichstag fire.

Delivery program
The Löbner company always considered itself a watch factory rather than a watch shop, although the product range shows that probably more than 90% of the watches offered came from other manufacturers. In the sample warehouse at Victoriastrasse 22 and in the salesrooms at Potsdamer Strasse 23, watches were offered starting at 8 marks. Ladies' and men's watches in a wide variety of designs (steel, nickel, silver, gold) were also offered, but the focus was also on the finest Geneva precision watches of the highest technical perfection, as well as Glashütte watches, including the so-called "Anker Chronometer" from A. Lange & Söhne. Glashütte repeaters with self-strike and grande sonnerie (priced at 8,000 marks), Geneva Anker remontoir movements with double chronograph, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, etc. (up to 2,600 marks), and the finest deck clocks with chronometer performance.

The range then includes stopwatches, pocket alarm clocks, carriage and automobile clocks, year clocks, desk clocks, and fine Parisian pendulum clocks, as well as travel clocks. In addition to simple room and house clocks, special designs such as watchman's control clocks and even astronomical pendulum clocks with Glashütte movements are offered. The illustrations show seconds pendulum clocks signed FL Löbner, Berlin, W9, but identified by their numbering as movements of the Strasser & Rohde company in Glashütte. Both clocks have mahogany cases and square dials, although the outstanding pendulum clock with the free Strasser escapement can be dated very precisely due to the early Riefler J pendulum. Pendulum No. 43 was delivered by Riefler to Strasser & Rohde on December 7, 1900. The advertisements of the Löbner company also show that in addition to production and sales, a repair workshop was also operated in which up to 30 specialists were employed specifically for the repair of fine, complicated and even antique clocks.

As already mentioned, FL Löbner's real achievements in horology lie in his short-timers. Most European racetracks were equipped with Löbner racetrack clocks. For scientific purposes, Löbner developed the so-called "Tertien Counter" in many different configurations, with these devices being used primarily for measuring fuse combustion times and bullet flight times.

A further development was the chronoscope with a 1,000th-of-a-second measurement. Also of interest here is the reference list taken from a company catalog, which lists the customers of central clock systems, tower clock systems, tertiary clocks, and chronoscopes.

In addition, FL Löbner also worked on the design and further development of escapements for pendulum clocks. With patent specification No. 8916, dated August 10, 1879, FL Löbner patented a "free anchor escapement for pendulum clocks." The patent claim concerns "the curved piece ab attached to the pendulum with the guide channel cd and the release pieces ee in conjunction with the anchor fork g and the guide pin h, through whose interaction a free anchor escapement is achieved in pendulum clocks."

As can be seen from the illustration, the pendulum and movement are indeed largely decoupled, so that one can rightly speak of a free escapement. The ratchet wheel is intended as a pin wheel, but all other common ratchet wheel shapes or tooth shapes would be equally possible. Whether Löbner actually built clocks with this mechanism is unknown. Two further patents (No. 15423 and No. 18321) from 1881 referred to the "self-starting of the pendulum in pendulum clocks," comparable to the self-starting of pocket watches.

Finally, I would like to point out a unique piece, also developed and built by FL Löbner, namely the "Smallest Clock in the World." The following specifications demonstrate just how small this clock is: The largest diameter of the case is 10.5 mm, and its thickness is 3 mm. The dial measures 5.75 mm in diameter, the minute hand is 2.4 mm, and the hour hand is 1.3 mm long. The complete movement consists of 95 individual parts and weighs 0.93 g. The spring blade is 45/1000ths of a mm thick, and the escapement wheel has 6 teeth and a diameter of 0.39 mm (!). The clock had a cylinder escapement and key winding.

Little remains of the period after FL Löbner left the company. For example, the Löbner company became a purveyor to the Imperial Navy in 1905 and then Royal Court Watchmaker in 1913. The last entry in the Berlin address book dates from 1939 and includes the addition "Clock Factory and Precision Mechanical Workshop."

From 1940 onwards, there is no evidence of this, and it can be assumed that the business was dissolved at the beginning of the Second World War.

Source: Volkhard Cremer, Jörg Hein, 'Old Clocks and Modern Timekeeping 2/90 Callwey Munich'