The DUROWE Connection: The Saga Of Laco And Timex

Laco and Timex seem like two completely different companies. One’s German and known for Fliegers; the other American and known for mass-producing mostly quartz watches. The two share a very entangled history, however. The Swiss get involved in this story, too, before we take a round trip back to Germany with Stowa. The common connection is a German producer of movements – DUROWE. Let’s dig into this interesting web of connections involving German, American, and Swiss brands. I’ll include a few vintage ads along the way.

Laco and the German ETA

DUROWE (Deutsche Uhren Roh Werke) was founded in 1933 by Ludwig Hummel. Mr. Hummel also co-found Lacher & Co, or Laco as it’s more commonly known as today. DUROWE was largely established to reduce the reliance on Swiss movements, and it didn’t just supply Laco. Like ETA today (well, at least until recently), DUROWE also supplied other companies with movements. DUROWE produced its first automatic movement in 1952.

vintage Laco Advertisement from the 1950s

Timex Takes Over In 1959

Laaco-DUROWE came under American Ownership in February of 1959, after Hummel sold the company to US Time Corporation (better known as Timex today). Laco was leading into developing electric watches, something Timex was very interested in at the time. 1961 marked the year the Laco-electric was introduced. Timex introduced its first electric watch, the model 67, in 1962.

Vintage Timex Ad

Timex inevitably sold Laco-DUROWE in 1965 (after about six-and-a-half years of ownership). The ironic part? The new owner was Swiss.

The Swiss Snatch Up DUROWE

The new owner of Laco-DUROWE was Ebauches SA (which eventually merged into ETA). So the German company that set out to reduce its reliance on Swiss movements was absorbed by one of the largest producer of Swiss movements. It later became engulfed into ETA – the largest producer of Swiss movements.

Vintage Ebauches SA Advertisement from 1949

Under new ownership, DUROWE was tasked with producing movements for watches exclusively. The Swiss company also received easy access to the EEC, or European Economic Community (which itself has been incorporated into the European Union), through the recently acquired German company. DUROWE continued on as a powerhouse producer of movements for another 10 years or so, leading all the way up to the Quartz Crisis, but like many, it slowly faded as a result of the rise in quartz movements.

Rebirth With Stowa

All but completely faded away, DUROWE was resurrected when Jorge Schauer purchased the rights to the company in 2002. Schauer received new old stock DUROWE movements, and was planning on working to release new in-house movements as well – but it’s unclear if this will happen en mass anytime soon.

1950s Stowa Watch Advertisement

Schauer took over Stowa and all its trademark rights from Werner Storz in 1996 and ran it as an independent company up until recently. Stowa became part of Tempus Arte GmbH & Co. KG this year. It was originally founded in 1927, two years after Laco’s founding in 1925.

Laco Today

While DUROWE appears to be in limbo once again, Laco is still around producing solid watches for affordable prices. The company’s fliegers are especially attractive, and the company has legitimate heritage as one of the five producers of the original flieger watch. The other four are Stowa, IWC, A. Lange & Söhne, and Wempe – so it’s in good company.

Through the common connection of DUROWE, the German company Laco is interconnected to the American Timex brand. Both are connected to ETA and Switzerland through the Ebauches SA transaction. Stowa is currently the keeper of DUROWE, which is currently resting its head once again in Germany with a German watch brand. I would love to see Stowa “pull a Nomos” and use DUROWE to start manufacturing great in-house movements at attractive prices, but we can only hope at this point.

For more vintage advertisements, visit the archive at lugsandlume.com. Know more about the story of Laco-DUROWE and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!