Review: Wempe Chronometerwerke Tonneau
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The giant German retailer Wempe has a collection of watches under their Chronometerwerke line Here we examine one of their earlier offerings, the Wempe Chronometerwerke Tonneau A tonneau shaped watch with a form movement made for them exclusively by Nomos
Interesting play with channel harmony when a retailer decides to up his game, and offer watches with his own name on the dial to compete against the maisons he carries.
Such is the confidence of major German retailer Wempe, that their own line of watches – known as Chronometerwerke are offered alongside the likes of Patek Philippe, A Lange & Söhne, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin and a huge array of name brands.
Wempe
Gerhard DH Wempe was a watchmaker who started the firm in the town of Elsfleth an der Weser in 1878 to sell watches According to the Wempe website, the start up capital was 80 German Marks, and the stall was located in his aunt’s house.
The business initially focused on used watches, but before long, he began his expansion and set up a branch in Oldenberg. In order to expand his product range in the top price category, he traveled to Switzerland with his 12-year-old son Herbert There he made many contacts with the local watch workshops — contacts that would be very useful for his company later on For now, the fine timepieces from Switzerland lent further glamour to his two shops.
He set up in Hamburg in 1907, and soon grew to have 4 stores in the city.
The next phase of expansion was in 1938 when the younger Wempe bought Hamburger Chronometerwerke GmbH from shipbuilders based in Hamburg and Bremen This company, which had been founded in 1905, produced highly precise marine chronometers under the management of the renowned chronometer maker Ferdinand Denker.
Through this purchase, Wempe laid the foundations, and just a short time after that, a collaboration began in Glashütte between Herbert Wempe and Otto Lange, the grandson of the founder of the Ferdinand Adolph Lange watch company in Saxony Together, the two men established the cooperative enterprise Sternwarte Glashütte as an institute for research and advanced training for young watchmakers, as well as the precise regulation of clocks and watches
The company struggled a bit after the war, in a ruined Hamburg, and began expansion again in 1963, starting in Hamburg, then Germany, and by 1980 was poised for international expansion.
The first retail outlet was established in New York in 1980, and then in Paris, Vienna, London and Madrid.
Wempe Chronometerwerke Tonneau
The watch we review here is the Wempe Chronometerwerke Tonneau The watch is no longer seen on the Wempe catalog, but we are unsure if it is still available in Wempe stores The review piece is the property of a Deployant Friend, Eddie Sng who reviewed this very piece on his blog here
The case, dial and hands
As mentioned, the case is tonneau shaped.
The French word tonneau means barrel, and the sides of the case are curved like the wine barrels used in France We []
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