Hamburg American Clock Company, a brief history

HAC - COMPANY - HAMBURG AMERIKANISCHE UHRENFABRIK - HAMBURG AMERICAN CLOCK COMPANY

When Erhard Junghans, founder of the Junghans factory, died in 1876, his widow's son in law, Paul Landenburger, who had acted as business manager for Junghans, left to start his own factory Named Landenburger and Lang.

In 1883 the name was changed to the "Hamburg Amerikanische Uhrenfabrik",
HAC became a very well known German clock company. Kochmann has numerous references.
The company used many different trademarks but the best known is the "crossed arrows" symbol.
They eventually merged with Junghans in 1930

 

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Paul Landenberger started out as a bookholder of the Gebr. Junghans clock factory
in Schramberg, Black Forest, Germany, in 1869.
He quickly advanced to an authorized executive and married Frida Junghans, daughter of
company founder Erhard Junghans, in 1872 and then demanded a position on the board of
directors. The Junghans family declined and Landenberger left the company in anger, the
beginning of a long "family feud".
In 1875, together with his partner, Philipp Lang, he founded the Landenberger & Lang
clock factory and although he had taken some know-how with him from Junghans, the
company was bankrupt by 1882/1883.
Converted to a stock holding firm and with new investors, the company was re-named
to Hamburg-Amerikanische Uhrenfabrik (Hamburg-American clock factory).

In fact, "Hamburg" appeared in the name, because the investor coming from Hamburg
wanted it that way, that's all. "Amerikanische" was connected to the movements made
by the "new" American production methods.
The older company logos of HAC may not be as familiar as the well known "Pfeilkreuz"
(Crossed Arrows) mark, registered in 1891.
In 1905, the company added the discount "Lux" trademark with the logo of a burning oil lamp.

Competition, especially with Junghans, was fierce, but HAC managed to flourish, even
building up its own worker's homes district.
By the mid 1920s HAC and Junghans (and Gustav Becker) were forced to cooperate because of dropping sales figures and economic depression - Junghans gained influence by doing so and by 1930 was able to take over both companies completely.
Much of the old HAC factory including all of their archives, was destroyed during a flood in 1959.

HAC movements, in general, cannot be dated by serial numbers or dating codes prior to
the Junghans takeover. Some movements sported both the HAC and the Junghans star.