Hugo Kern strikes out on his own
The tradition of watch and clock making goes back a long way in the Black Forest, with well-known companies such as Junghans and H.A.U. creating opportunities for suppliers, prompting Hugo Kern (1853 – 1942) to accept a position with Carl Weber, a spring manufacturer that later became the Schramberg clock and watch maker SU, after completing his apprenticeship with a watch spring maker, several years of travel in Switzerland and a spell with the company J. N. Eberle in Augsburg in southern Germany.
In 1882, he marries Albertine Hils and the young couple acquires a property at Oberndorfer Straße 97, today the inn Zum Stammhaus 1888.
Hugo Kern then strikes out on his own as a self-employed manufacturer of tension springs for the local watchmaking industry. As early as 1890, he has to extend his premises, and in 1901 the company is entered in the commercial register.
Rapid company growth
The company grows quickly and in 1911, as the second factory extension doubles the production area, he takes on his son,
Ernst Hugo Kern (1883 – 1936).
Ernst Hugo Kern has trained as a businessman and has gathered experience abroad in Switzerland and France. On his return from military service in 1918, he modernizes the company's administration and production.
Conversion to a limited partnership and expansion of the building
Ernst Hugo Kern takes over the helm from his father Hugo and converts the company into the limited partnership Hugo Kern KG, extending it with two new buildings by 1930.