A LONG TRADITION – SINCE 1882
Hanhart is founded
The sun is red in the evening sky above the small town of Diessenhofen on the Rhine in northeastern Switzerland when watchmaker Johann Adolf Hanhart sits down, picks up pen and paper, and writes an advertisement. In it, he makes the "honorable residents of Diessenhofen and the surrounding area" the "humble announcement" that he has purchased a business and moved into its premises to open a watch shop. The building is located at Hauptstraße 33. The advertisement appears on July 1, 1882, in the "Anzeiger am Rhein" newspaper. Johann A. Hanhart, who was born in Diessenhofen on May 11, 1856, also served as chairman of the town's community for several years.
Relocation to Schwenningen in the Black Forest
In 1902, the company was relocated to the “largest watchmaking city in the world,” Schwenningen am Neckar.
Wilhelm Julius joins the company
When Hanhart's youngest son, Wilhelm Julius, joined the company, an era of dynamic innovation and pioneering achievements began.
Here, the entrepreneurial family experienced its first, highly innovative era in the 1920s, when the youngest Hanhart son, Wilhelm Julius, who was born on 31 October 1902 in Schwenningen, joined the company.
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Introduction of the first affordable stopwatch
In 1924, sports enthusiast Wilhelm Hanhart launched the world's first affordable mechanical stopwatch. The previous year, he had participated in a track and field competition where the organizers had difficulty sourcing four stopwatches of varying quality. At the time, these timepieces came exclusively from Switzerland and were available—if at all—only at inflated prices, as practically only one-off pieces were produced. Wilhelm (Willy) Hanhart was so upset by this that he decided to manufacture stopwatches himself. Together with a watchmaker, he designed and constructed the first affordable mechanical stopwatch—thus launching the company that remains the leading stopwatch manufacturer today.
Two years after the introduction of the first affordable stopwatch, the range is expanded to include pocket watches and wristwatches, executed at the highest level of watchmaking craftsmanship.
As part of the expansion, a second factory was founded in Gütenbach in the Black Forest in 1934, which still produces the Hanhart stopwatch collection today.
Development of the double-hand stopwatch and the pusher chronograph “Caliber 40”
The complicated double-hand stopwatch was launched in 1935. New and increasingly sophisticated models went into production. Even then, first-class precision in its perfect form was one of the company's maxims.
The year 1938 marked the beginning of a new era in the company's history. The first Hanhart chronograph model went into series production: the single-pusher "Caliber 40," which would soon become the company's flagship product. In its 2003 reissue as the "Primus" model, it became a sought-after collector's item.
By 1939, Hanhart had already increased its sales figures to such an extent that it employed 200 people.
Resumption of production
During the war, watch production had to be suspended in favor of time fuses for torpedoes. Even after the war, Hanhart was unable to resume production immediately due to a break lasting from 1945 to 1948. Pilot's chronographs were again produced starting in 1948.
First participation in the Swiss Watch Fair in Basel
In 1952, the headquarters was rebuilt in Schwenningen. That same year, Hanhart participated for the first time in the Swiss watch fair—now known as Baselworld.
Hanhart is the market leader in stopwatches
In 1962, Hanhart repeated its coup of 1924: It surprised the market with its new stopwatch, the "Amigo." The company became the market leader and largest producer of mechanical stopwatches in Europe.
And Hanhart stepped up the ante...and opened another production facility in Neukirch in 1963. In Germany, there is practically no school or sports club that doesn't use Hanhart stopwatches for timing.
Development of a quartz movement
Then, in 1972, the era of quartz watches dawned. Hanhart set up its own plastic injection molding plant and developed a quartz movement, which was sold in the millions. Customers included renowned companies that equipped their own alarm clocks and watches with the movement, or for whom Hanhart manufactured these products entirely based on their designs. The first inexpensive quartz movements entered the market from the Far East. Price pressure intensified, and sales volumes declined.
The Gütenbach-based company parried the offensive from the Far East and developed a new, affordable movement, the Caliber 3305, in 1981. This went into production in 1982. 40 million units were sold! In 1983, Willy Hanhart's son-in-law, Klaus Eble, who had joined the company in 1966, took over management. Under his leadership, the LCD stopwatches "Profil," "Magma," and "Stopstar" were developed.
The Hanhart pilot chronograph as a faithful replica
With the rediscovery of traditional watchmaking, Hanhart drew on its own pioneering achievement in the 1990s: In August 1997, at the antiques fair in Furtwangen in the Black Forest, a replica of the legendary Hanhart Pilot's Chronograph from 1939 was presented. It was developed under the aegis of Production Manager Manfred Schwer. All case and dial details of the original were copied with the utmost care, from the old Hanhart lettering to the asymmetrical pusher offset. Furthermore, administration and production were consolidated at the Gütenbach site.
True legends – Hanhart celebrates its 130th anniversary
Hanhart celebrates its 130th anniversary in 2012. The Swiss-German watch brand, which still maintains its position as a major producer of timekeeping instruments, looks back on an unbroken manufacturing tradition and a successful and innovative corporate history. Today, it focuses more than ever on its core competency: the production of functional instrument watches for use in the air, on land, and at sea.
