Description
KIENZLE vintage mechanical watch
MADE IN GERMANY!
“Kienzle” is not an invented label — it is the family name of Jakob Kienzle (1859–1935), the Swabian entrepreneur who turned a small clock workshop on the edge of the Black Forest into one of the largest watch and clock factories in the world.
Jakob Kienzle joined the Schlenker family clock-making business in Schwenningen am Neckar in 1883 and modernized its production so successfully that from 1897 the firm carried his name — Kienzle Uhrenfabriken (“Kienzle Watch Factories”).
Schwenningen proudly called itself the largest clock town in the world, and Kienzle was its flagship — the name became a household word for honest, affordable German timekeeping: wristwatches, alarm clocks, and the dashboard clocks of Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche cars.
About the Kienzle Antimagnetic Line
For much of the twentieth century Kienzle was the German everyday watch — not a luxury name, but the brand on the wrist of the postman, the engineer and the schoolteacher. After the Second World War the Schwenningen factory poured its energy into simple, dependable hand-wound wristwatches built around its own pin-lever calibers, and sold them by the million across Europe.
The “Antimagnetic” dress watches of the late 1950s and 1960s are the archetype of that era: slim gold-plated cases, clean silvered dials with the flowing Kienzle script signature, and the sturdy caliber 051/53 ticking inside. They were honest watches for working people — and today they are a wonderfully affordable way to put a piece of German industrial history on your wrist.
About This Watch
This is a classic Kienzle Antimagnetic dress watch from the 1960s, made in Germany at the famous Schwenningen factory. The silver sunburst dial is beautifully clean, with applied gilt baton indices, stylized open numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9, and the elegant Kienzle script signature below 12 o’clock. A recessed small-seconds register with a fine crosshair-and-ring pattern sits at 6 o’clock, above the discreet MADE IN GERMANY designation.
Inside ticks Kienzle’s own hand-wound caliber 051 N/53 — the pin-lever workhorse that powered millions of German wristwatches. The movement is clearly stamped KIENZLE GERMANY, and the gold-plated case carries its original stainless steel snap-on back, marked Antimagnetic and Waterprotected. The watch comes fitted with a brand-new black Nagata leather strap.
Technical Specifications
- Brand: Kienzle
- Line: Antimagnetic dress watch, small seconds
- Lug Width: 16mm
- Movement: Kienzle cal. 051 N/53, manual wind, pin-lever escapement
- Production Date: circa 1960s
- Case Material: Gold-plated, with stainless steel snap-on back
- Case Diameter: approx. 33mm excl. crown
- Dial: Silver sunburst, applied gilt indices, small seconds at 6 o’clock
- Crystal: Acrylic
- Case-back: Marked “Stainless Steel Back — Antimagnetic — Waterprotected”
- Country of Manufacture: Germany
Condition Report
The dial is in excellent condition — the sunburst finish and gilt indices are bright and clean, with only the faintest specks visible under magnification. The gold-plated case shows only light signs of wear and the plating is strong overall; the stainless steel snap-on case-back has the usual light hairline scratches. The acrylic crystal is clear.
Fitted with a brand-new black Nagata leather strap (16mm).
Watch went through a recent service by a professional watch technician and keeps good time.
Comes with new Nagata leather strap included.
This watch ships from 🇺🇦Ukraine with tracking number
Why Collectors Want This Watch Today
Kienzle Antimagnetics are not rare in absolute numbers — the factory made a great many of them — but finding one with a dial this clean, freshly serviced and running well, is another matter: most survivors led hard everyday lives. This example offers the full 1960s German dress-watch experience — a warm gold-plated case, a silver sunburst dial and Kienzle’s famous in-house pin-lever caliber — for a fraction of what a comparable Swiss dress watch costs. It is an easy, charming entry into German horology, straight from the great clock town of Schwenningen.
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We guarantee the item you receive looks and works exactly as advertised — or your money back.
About the watch factory
Kienzle Uhren of Schwenningen am Neckar traces its history to 1883, when Jakob Kienzle became a partner in the Schlenker family clock workshop. Under his direction the firm — renamed Kienzle Uhrenfabriken in 1897 — industrialized clock-making on a scale Germany had never seen, and Schwenningen grew into the largest clock-making town in the world.
Kienzle built its reputation on robust, affordable pin-lever movements produced by the million: wristwatches, alarm clocks, office clocks, and the dashboard clocks fitted to Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche automobiles. The hand-wound caliber 051/53 inside this watch is one of those workhorses — simple, sturdy and easy to service, it kept honest time on German wrists throughout the 1950s and 1960s and remains a favourite of collectors of German industrial design today.
