Urgos - Uhrenfabrik (Clock Factory), Villigen, Germany.Manufacturer of clock movements, for hall, wall, and decor
clocks. Precision parts for industrial application and clocks.
Founded in 1920 by Christian Haller, Johannes Jauch, Robert
Papst, Heinrich Rumminger. First registered as Rumminger & Co.
GmbH. In 1923 the associates changed the name to Urgos.
Produced solid stock plates movements, striking Westminster and
other tunes. In 1925 they had 50 employees and by 1936 there
were 140 employees. The entire company was mustered and
pressed into the military production line during the
"Third Reich-Regime". In 1945 all machinery was dismantled as
WWII repatriation. After years of idleness the new management
entered a large export market, especially to the US., encased
in US made Grandfather clocks (Ridgeway) and other enterprises.
On Oct 9, 1992 the entire URGOS manufacturing plant auctioned
after 70 years of service.
Sometime in 1994 the company started to produce the top five or
so best selling movements under an employee owned company. This
happened after negotiations had broken down with Howard Miller
Clock Company to take over the business. Howard Miller had
refused to guarantee that the manufacturing would stay in
Germany.
The name of Urgos was kept because of the pass association with
quality.
COPYRIGHT - Union-Horlogere, Clock & Watch Trademark Index
European Origin, Georg Jacob G.M.B.H. Leipzig.
Writing by Karl Kochmann
Source:
ftp://atmosman.com/sweet/urgos.txt
