Museum piece
The unusually tall, balloon-shaped wooden case features expressive bands of light and dark grain. Behind the curved glass door is a large, light-coloured dial with bold black numerals and a gold-coloured ring. At 44 cm tall, the clock is almost half a metre high—about the height of one and a half wine bottles stacked on top of each other. The dial measures 22 cm in diameter.
Inside is a mechanical Hermle Calibre 130-070 with suspended movement. The Bim-Bam strike sounds on two bells: one strike on the half hour and the number of the hour on the hour. Despite its imposing height, the sound is surprisingly delicate and gentle, almost as if it came from a small, fragile clock.
Manufacturer
Reichenbach am Heuberg · Swabian Jura – Baden-Württemberg · Germany
Franz Hermle founded the clock factory Franz Hermle & Sohn in Gosheim on the Swabian Jura in 1922. By 1930, it was already among the region's most modern clockmaking businesses. A further production site opened in Reichenbach am Heuberg in 1951, specialising in large clocks and mechanical movements with various striking mechanisms. After Franz Hermle's death in 1953, his sons continued the business. The third generation joined in 1968 and 1974, with Gerd and Rolf Hermle respectively. Hermle North America was established in Amherst, Virginia, in 1977.
Following the insolvency of Hermle Uhrenmanufaktur GmbH in 2009, the clockmaking business was reorganised under Rolf Hermle in 2010 as HUM Uhrenmanufaktur GmbH & Co. KG. Today, Hermle remains a fourth-generation family business. It combines the manufacture of mechanical large clocks and movements with precision-turned components for industries including automotive engineering, mechanical engineering and medical technology. Since 2021, production has been concentrated at the Reichenbach am Heuberg site in Baden-Württemberg.
Company history: https://hermle-reichenbach.de/unternehmen/