Design
The Junghans ATO electronic is designed as an open skeleton clock. A light-coloured, circular dial ring frames the visible movement. The hour markers are polished metal appliqués, while slender hands indicate the time. Behind the movement is a brushed metal plate bearing the Junghans and ATO markings. The pendulum bob and parts of the gear train can be seen from the front. The clock stands on a flat, oval silver-coloured metal base edged with a dark trim line. A clear glass dome protects the open construction.
Technology
Inside is an electromechanical ATO pendulum movement powered by a battery. A permanent magnet attached to the pendulum moves near a coil mounted on the movement frame. The exciting coil switches a transistor, which controls the current for the electrical drive impulse. This impulse keeps the pendulum moving. The electronic control works without a mechanical contact, so there is no contact wear. A pawl and ratchet wheel transfer the pendulum's motion to the gear train.
Manufacturer
Junghans
Schramberg
· Black Forest – Baden-Württemberg
· Germany
The history of the Junghans clock factory began in 1861 in Schramberg in the Black Forest. Erhard Junghans initially founded the company to manufacture clock components. From 1866, it produced its own movements and clocks. Under the leadership of his sons, particularly Arthur Junghans, the business became one of Germany's most important clock and watch manufacturers. By 1903, with more than 3,000 employees and annual production exceeding three million timepieces, Junghans was the world's largest clock and watch factory.
The company made wall clocks, table clocks, alarm clocks, pocket watches and, later, wristwatches. In 1890, its familiar eight-pointed star trademark took on the distinctive form still recognised today. Alongside mechanical horology, Junghans began exploring electrical drives at an early stage. From around 1930, it produced electric pendulum clocks in cooperation with the French company ATO.
During the Second World War, Junghans was involved in German armaments production. Its factories manufactured ammunition fuses, among other products, and used forced labourers and prisoners of war. Civilian clock and watch production resumed as early as 1946.
The Nuremberg-based Diehl Group acquired Junghans in 1956. The company remained an important manufacturer of mechanical large clocks while developing new technologies. In 1971, it introduced the Astro-Quarz, its first German quartz wristwatch. Over the following decades, development increasingly focused on electronic timekeeping. A radio-controlled table clock appeared in 1986, followed in 1990 by the MEGA 1, the world's first radio-controlled wristwatch.
After several changes of ownership and an insolvency in 2008, Schramberg entrepreneurs Hans-Jochem and Hannes Steim took over the clock and watch business in 2009. The Junghans brand continues at its historic Schramberg location. Since 2018, the listed Terrassenbau, a former production building dating from 1917–1918, has housed a museum devoted to the history of clock and watchmaking.
