# Kundo Mundo



## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

I have been letting a few clocks from my quartz carriage clock collection go recently - some to charity and some for sale. One that I have kept is a miniature brass quartz alarm carriage clock bearing the brand name "KUNDO", and "GERMANY" on the dial, and containing a Kundo movement. This sweet little clock is of some age and so I decided to look it up, out of interest, and have discovered that the company behind Kundo-branded clocks has an interesting history.

Looking at the brief online mentions of the company that manufactured clocks branded Kundo, we are informed that the German partnership of Kieninger & Obergfell was responsible, and their products included mantel and coach clocks, in addition to their flagship product, 400-day or anniversary clocks. The early clocks made by this partnership were marked with a KO monogram on the movement by means of hand-engraving; subsquently, the clocks were marked with the trade name, Kundo, and sometimes with the partnership title of Keininger & Obergfell in full as well. Clocks marked Kundo/KUNDO will be found with mechanical, electrical/electronic and quartz movements, and the firm has a long history of clock manufacture commencing at the end of the 19th century.

Fortunately, the company responsible for the Kundo clocks has an unbroken history and is still working today; it has an informative website that provides some useful historical details. One omission in the website, which seems somewhat odd given its mention on other sites that feature Kundo clocks, is the seemingly longlived partnership of Kieninger & Obergfell. Instead, the site gives us the name of Johann Obergfell as the sole founder, in 1899, of the "KUNDO" Company in Sankt Georgen in the Black Forest. Clocks were apparently manufactured from the very beginnings of the company, and the establishment of the Kundo company was based on the invention of the coil gong chime.

Kundo instructions leaflet cover for an anniversary clock, c.1955 (pic from billsclockworks.com):










Johann's son, Reinhold Obergfell, further expanded the clock business and it was under his proprietorship that the Kundo brand name became closely associated with high quality anniversary clocks. Just in case members are confused as to what an anniversary clock is, one can define it as being a "torsion pendulum clock"; that is a mechanical clock which utilises a horizontally rotating/oscillating (rather than swinging) pendulum which hangs by a thin wire or ribbon from the clock movement. Anniversary clocks, which were first patented and made in any number by Anton Harder around 1880, are able to run continuously for long periods because the set-up requires little energy to keep them running. They are usually designed to run for a year or so without being wound again although some can run for as long as 1000 days. Unfortunately, they are not necessarily good timekeepers over lengthy run-time periods, and the clocks are notoriously difficult to set up correctly. Most of them are fairly ornamental, and usually have a glass dome to enable observers to watch the oscillating pendulum in action. Mechanical Kundo anniversary clocks were made from 1923 until the end of the 1950s, and even beyond. They have become highly collectible, and interestingly, because production but not export, continued in Germany during World War 2, today's collectors often tend to buy their Wartime examples from Germany itself. Kundo anniversary clocks come in several styles and have either a fixed or removable pendulum. They are known for their reliability and can run for between nine and thirteen months between resets.

Rear of a Kundo mechanical anniversary clock showing the movement (pic from icollector.com):










Kendo mechanical anniversary clock from the early 1950s - this design being popular at Kundo over a long period - perhaps even into the mid-1970s, by which time the brand-name was printed in a modern typeface and the dome was plastic (pic from greenfieldstore.com):










In 1956, Herbert Obergfell took over the firm from his father Reinhold, and he initiated many innovations with regard to Kundo clocks, with the result that the firm became an industry leader in this field. In 1956, electronics were introduced into the Obergfell concern, with the production of the first transistor clock. In 1962, the company made the world's first digital quartz alarm clock and in 1980, Uhren Techik Schwarzwald (U.T.S.) was founded as a joint venture with Staiger Company to enhance horological technology - quartz carriage and other clocks marked "Staiger" are commonly found today. Innovation in clocks continued at Kundo, with the company being responsible for the first radio-controlled clock with centre second and date display.

Herbert Obergfell was not solely interested in clocks; he was also ambitious to enter other industries, so diversifying the company portfolio into areas such as control units for domestic appliances and electronic heat cost allocators. Dr. Frank Obergfell entered the business in 1986, and the company continued to diversify and move away from clocks as a prime product. Eventually, in 2001, the various activities and sub-companies were grouped into a parent holding company named "OTG Obergfell Technology Group AG", and after some subsequent business reorganisation, the Kundo name still survives, in the name "KUNDO XT", which stands for Kundo Extended technology. I do not know when the Obergfell company stopped making Kundo-branded clocks, but given the fact that my little quartz Kundo carriage clock probably dates to about the mid-1970s, it is likely that quartz clocks at least were being made until relatively recent times. I also would not be surprised to find quartz-powered torsion pendulum clocks made by Kundo from the advent of quartz clock tecnhnology being used by Obergfell.

A superb complex Kundo World Time electro-mechanical mantle clock, c.1960. (pic and further description/ill. of clock and movement at public.beuth-hochschule.de/hamann/clocks/wrldclck2.html):


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## Guest (Aug 15, 2015)

i think you have a little museum in your house, seems you have quite a collection :yes:


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Don't let Kristina hear you say that, dear Bruce. She finds my room (which fortunately is quite large) an exasperation and is always on to me about the number of clocks and watches I have in there. In fact, given my collecting obsessions over the years, Kris has been incredibly tolerant, and without her acceptance of my collecting, we just couldn't live in the same house. In my defence, I can honestly say that I haven't let my clock/watch collecting enter the rest of the house, and also Kris is appreciative of the fact that I have always used my collections as the basis for professional and unpaid research and writing. Over my life, I have actually been very lucky in that when I have come to sell a collection of a particular type of item, I have always made a profit. Now that I am sixty, and not too good healthwise, I feel that clocks and watches may well be my last collecting passion, and I don't mean that in any self-pitying manner; just that there is so much to interest me in the area of clocks and watches, and having discovered the Watch Forum UK, I really have found a home that I wouldn't want to abandon.


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## dobra (Aug 20, 2009)

I have two Kundo anniversary clocks. Both worked after I cleaned and adjusted, but now both have stopped!

Mike


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## vinn (Jun 14, 2015)

i have one of those world time clocks you entered. it ran occasionally. i worked on it two or three times ---- then its a wall hanger. i like those ships clocks that ring out the watches. they have a similar problem with adjusting the "hour of the bell' AND BY COINSADENCE its a german clock, --- got mit uns


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## Guest (Aug 18, 2015)

you are 60 ?? i would never have guessed it, you posted a picture last year and i thought hhhmmm younger than i was expecting..i am younger but you make me feel like an old fart now :tongue: :biggrin:


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