One of the most popular aspects of the famous Junghans watches is the company's relationship with Swiss designer Max Bill, whose creations embodied the Bauhaus design philosophy.

JUNGHANS, MAX BILL AND KANDINSKY

The famous watch brand Junghans began in 1861 in Schramberg, in the heart of the German Black Forest. From the very beginning it was driven by innovative ideas and continuous technological contributions to traditional watchmaking, and the company was already exporting its products all over the world at an early stage.

Erhard Junghans' company grew rapidly and soon became one of the great influences in the history of watches and industry; it even excelled in architecture. The Schramberg clock factory is characterized by its famous terraced building, completed in 1918. This building, which seems to climb the slope with its steps, was designed by Arthur Junghans to provide each workstation with optimal daylight illumination. This would allow the greatest possible manufacturing precision and would make the most of the Black Forest valley and the steepest point of the company premises.

Terrassenbau Schramberg Museum, by Junghans.

Similarly, the brand began creating wristwatches of its own design and manufacture in 1930. Craftsmanship, effort and a special sensitivity to design during the creation process were already characteristic of the brand. As well as ambition and perseverance, as evidenced by the fact that in 1946 they already had the plans for the first wrist chronograph with the in-house developed J88 caliber. This earned them a contract for pilots in the armed forces.

In the early 1950s Junghans again demonstrated its commitment to the unity of art and technology, and sought an artist to design such an everyday object as a kitchen clock. His choice fell on the Swiss Max Bill, who was not only a painter, sculptor, graphic artist and architect. Bill saw in this collaboration an opportunity to bring his ideas to a wider public and to spread his philosophy in a more accessible way. The collaboration resulted in a series of iconic timepieces that have been acclaimed for their minimalist and functional design.

Junghans Max Bill Wall Clock RC, 22 mm

Max Bill, influenced by his studies at the Staatliches Bauhaus in Dessau, designed a series of watches for the brand characterized by clean lines and functional design. In turn, Junghans ensured that these purist wristwatches were technically at the cutting edge.

The watches, which have since become collector's items, reflected from the outset the philosophy that form should follow function, to which they remain true. Sobriety is one of their key characteristics, with linear and geometric forms as their preferred aesthetic. All of this fits perfectly into the core of Bauhaus thinking, where Max Bill had the privilege of learning from masters such as Wassily Kandinsky.

 Junghans Max Bill Automatic, 38 mm

Although there are obvious differences between Kandinsky's and Bill's work, the roots of the Bauhaus philosophy are evident in both works. As a teacher at the school, Kandinsky made a profound analytical study of the individual elements of an image, which resulted in his book "Point and Line to Plane". His works changed again: the individual geometric elements came to the foreground, and the circle was used differently, as a symbol of perfect form.

This in turn influenced Max Bill's work in collaboration with Junghans, his essential geometric figures being the circle and straight lines. Although their styles diverged thereafter in complexity and color, with Bill adhering more to the belief that design followed function, the traces of his master and his formal simplification are still palpable in his work.

“Circles in a Circle”, Kandinsky, 1923.  Photo by https://www.wassilykandinsky.net

The Junghans Max Bill collection is characterized by clean, elegant and perfectly proportioned watches. Since that first kitchen clock, the Max Bill design has become the cornerstone and differentiator of Junghans. And no wonder, to have a work of art and an ode to time at your fingertips is unusual.

Junghans is fully aware of this, and celebrated its 160th anniversary among other novelties with a limited edition set of three Max Bill watches, each with one of its own technologies, but all true to the original philosophy.

Set Junghans Max Bill 60 Edition