The Hermle clock company was founded in 1922 by Franz Hermle in Gosheim, Germany. The company is one of the greatest success stories in the world of antique clocks. The company started by producing high quality clock movements. As we all know the interwar period was a hard time for most people, however the Hermle clock company was flourishing, because they used for that time state of the art techniques for their clock movements. As the Hermle clock company was very successful in producing clock movements of great quality they also started to produce clocks itself after World War 2.
Dutch clocks and the Hermle clock movements
The Hermle clock company was a success, first and foremost because of the quality of their movements. Many clock companies around the world ordered movements of the Hermle clock company, because of its value for many and the reliability of the company. Dutch clock companies also had a long tradition of clock manufacturing and started to show interest in the Hermle clock movements because of their quality. They started to use the Hermle movement in their own traditional clocks during the 1950s and 1960s. By this the Dutch clock companies were able to manufacture high quality clocks in a fast way and not too expensive for that time. That is why most Dutch clocks from the 1950s and 1960s have a Hermle clock movement.
Of course, the Dutch did still make Dutch clocks with a Dutch clock movement. An example is WUBA / Warmink. The Warmink company build their own clock movements under the name of WUBA. Today, these clocks are collector's items because of the fact that they are more rare and also represent high-end quality. However, WUBA could never really compete with the movement made by the Hermle clock company because of the simple fact that the Hermle clock company could easily produce much more clock movements which influenced the price.
So if you are looking for a beautiful Dutch antique clock, you are either buying a typical Dutch piece of history with a typical Dutch clock movement (WUBA) or with a German Hermle clock movement. Both movement stand for great quality and reliability.