Gruen vintage watches started with the "Center-Pinions For Watch" patent Gruen applied for in 1874. A couple years later, in 1876, Detrich started the Columbus Watch Manufacturing Company. By 1879 they were making about 10 watches per day. The success of Gruen attracted new partners in 1882 and the company was reorganized into the Columbus Watch Company. Times were good for Gruan and his partners until the "Panic of 1893", a depression in today's terms. This depression combined with fierce competition from Walther and Elgin eventually led to the Gruens leaving in 1894 and the company finally failed in 1903. It has been noted that Fred Gruen left Columbus around watch serial number 229,000 and the prior him leaving Columbus watches did not carry a name.
Ditrich Gruen and his son Fredrick Gruen started D. Gruen and son in 1894 making high-quality watches. In 1911 they opened a watch factory in Cincinnati, Ohio called Time Hill and continued to grow until 1953. This year was the peak as it was the best sales year in Gruen history. That same year the Gruen family sold their interest and the president was forced out following a scandal. By 1958 the company, now called Gruen Industries, had lost its direction, fell into severe legal issues, and amassed huge debts. To compensate it laid off employees and started selling off its properties, including the historic Time Hill. In 1976 the company finally went bankrupt and the Gruen name was sold to M.Z. Berger. Although Gruen brand watches are still produced today this pretty much ended the original era of Gruen vintage watches.
During their reign Gruen watches were some of the highest priced and prominent watches of their time. The UltraThin line with a platinum and diamond case sold for $1250 in 1929 (over $30,000 in today's dollars). Even the lower end watches in the SemiThin line sold for $25, this compared to cheap watches of the day selling for only $1. Some other notable watch lines include: The VeriThin (1904), the Cartouche (1921), the pentagon (1922), the Quadron (1925), and the Techni-Quadron (1928).
The VeriThin line of Gruen vintage watches was introduced in 1904. Gruen already was making watches of smaller size and now decided to move into the area of making them thin. The VeriThin did this by reducing the standard movement from having 4 layers of overlapping parts down to 3 layers. Although they were not the first to make thinner watches with this concept they were the first to do it with commercial success. These watches were about 7mm thick which is only about 2/3 the thickness of a comparably sized watch.
The UlltraThin line of watches took the VeriThin movement one step further by eliminating yet another layer in the movement. This reducing the operating layers to only two.
The Cartouche, as its name slightly implies, was a rectangle wrist watch with rounded corners. Released in 1921 it was designed as an elegant women's watch. The Cartouche used the first Gruen movement specifically designed for wrist watches. There are over 500 different Cartouche models in the line.
Written by Alan Brenner from Blue Tree Vintage. If you are interested in more information on purchasing Gruen Vintage watches please visit. Thank you for your time.
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