Laco

The name joins the opening syllables of Lacher and Co. The partners began by fitting Swiss movements into German cases of their own design. To make Pforzheim less dependent on Swiss suppliers, Ludwig Hummel set up Durowe (Deutsche Uhren-Rohwerke) in 1933, which made movements for Laco and sold them to other German makers.^2, 5, 6

During the Second World War Laco was one of five suppliers of the large observation watch, or B-Uhr, to the German air force, alongside A. Lange & Söhne, Stowa, Wempe and IWC Schaffhausen. The military fixed the design; Laco’s versions ran on Durowe’s hand-wound D5 calibre.^{1, 2, 3, 6}

Pforzheim was largely destroyed in 1945, but Laco kept making and selling watches, and production grew during the rebuilding. In 1952 the Laco Sport carried Durowe’s automatic calibre 552, the Duromat; in 1961 the Laco Electric ran on a Durowe movement with an electrically driven balance. Laco says it was the first working electronic wristwatch made in Germany.^1, 2, 6

In 1959 Hummel sold Laco and Durowe to the American Timex group. When cheap, accurate Japanese quartz watches took over in the 1970s, Laco lost ground. A sister firm, the Erich Lacher Uhrenfabrik, kept producing throughout, and in 1988 its managing partner, Horst Günther, bought the rights to the Laco name; the new Laco Uhrenmanufaktur GmbH worked mainly on private-label watches.^2, 5, 6

In 2000 Laco returned to its own past with a limited series of recreated wartime pilot’s watches at the original 55 mm, with Durowe movements. Most of its watches now follow the two wartime dial patterns, Baumuster A and B, named after German cities with airports and fitted mainly with Swiss Sellita movements, or Japanese Miyota movements on cheaper models.^{1, 2, 5, 6}

Its newest pilot’s watches are certified to DIN 8330, the German pilot’s-watch standard: sixteen tests in three groups, some carried out by the aerospace engineering department of FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences.⁸