Ruhla Watches: From Space to the West - How East Germany’s State-Owned Watchmaker Tried to Survive the Cold War

During the Cold War, Ruhla was under state ownership and produced watches for the East German market and for export to socialist countries. Ruhla also made the first German watch that went to space, a newly developed quartz watch worn by cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn in 1978.

Sigmund Jähn and his Ruhla wristwatch.

At the time East Germany was eager to export Ruhla watches under the brandname ANKER (KH) to the West, in order to earn more money for the state treasury and fund its communist propaganda.

The following example was a corporate gift or business gift from the late seventies. They are gifts given by a company or an organization to its employees, clients, customers, partners or other stakeholders. They are meant to express gratitude, appreciation, recognition, goodwill or loyalty.

This compressor watch from my collection made by Ruhla with a 24-33 handwind movement and inner rotating bezel was therefore rebranded to ZIKUN. ZIKUN at the time was a vehicle manufacturer that produces commercial vehicles, car trailers and related products. The company is based in Germany and has been operating since 1972.

Besides a descending diver, a tropical fish and three stars, the watch case-back reads; Waterproof, Schockproof, Stainless Steel Back and DGM ang.. "DGM ang." stands for "Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt angemeldet", which means "applied at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office". The German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) is the national patent office.

A white dial ANKER (KH) (advert 1979)

Ruhla produced watches for export under various brand names, depending on the market and the quality. Some of the most common brands were:

- ANKER, which was the main brand for the West German market. It was also used for some models sold in other European countries, such as France, Italy, Spain and the UK.

- RUHLA, which was the brand for the East German market and for some other socialist countries such as Cuba, Mongolia and Vietnam.

- TITANIA, which was a sub-brand for women’s watches. It was also used for some models sold in the USA and Canada.

- GARDÉ, which was a sub-brand for higher-quality watches, such as chronographs, automatics and radio-controlled watches. It was also used for some models sold in Japan and Switzerland.

Furthermore Ruhla also made watches for Meister Anker. Meister Anker was a brand name used by the retail chain Quelle, which sold Ruhla watches under its own logo. Other retail chains also used different brand names for Ruhla watches, such as Champion, Worldtime and Chronelex to name a few.