Design
This Hermle mantel clock reflects the distinctive design language of the 1960s. Its low, rectangular wooden case, with its warm grain, stands on four angled, tapered legs with brass-coloured tips. The unusually shaped dial forms the focal point. Its softly rounded, trapezoidal outline is highlighted by a gold-coloured trim. A pale chapter ring with fine gold-coloured hour markers surrounds the silver-grey dial and its slender, matching hands. The combination of wood, metal and clean geometric forms makes this clock a characteristic piece of 1960s interior design.
Technology
Inside is a mechanical Hermle movement, calibre 130-020, with a floating balance escapement. This design requires no conventional pendulum and allowed the clock to be housed in a relatively shallow case. The mechanical striking mechanism uses three chime rods to produce a restrained Bim-Bam sound. It strikes once on the half-hour and sounds the corresponding number of strikes on each full hour. This calibre belongs to a long-lived family of Hermle movements.
Story
This clock has found a new home in California, USA.
Manufacturer
Hermle
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/
