A journey through time in St. Georgen
One night – more than 300 years of innovation history.
Anyone staying at Hotel FederWERK in St. Georgen sleeps in the middle of the Black Forest’s industrial history – and wakes up in the future. Together the 51 rooms form a timeline: from a wooden-geared clock made in 1730 through gramophones, turntables and electric motors to medical technology and XR learning software. On this page you travel through that history era by era – with the rooms in which you encounter it.
1680–1750
The first clockmakers
Clockmaking begins in St. Georgen around 1700. Andreas Müller, born in 1684, is considered the town’s first clockmaker. In a small house in Brigach he runs a workshop with his son and son-in-law. In 1725 he repairs the tower clock of the Lorenzkirche, for 12 guilders plus food and drink. His wooden-geared clock of 1730 survives to this day.
1800–1850
Craft becomes trade
Clock traders carry Black Forest clocks out into the world. Philipp Haas founds a clock trading company in 1831. Johann Michael Heinemann sets up on his own as a master locksmith in 1836, making lathes and clockmaking tools. Andreas Maier founds his factory for clock dials in 1852, which grows into an internationally known maker of clock hands.
1850–1900
Mechanisation & factories
Workshops become factories. Johann Georg Weisser founds his machine factory in 1856. The brothers Mathias Bäuerle and Tobias Baeuerle found clock factories of their own. In 1875 Tobias builds a large factory and residential building on Bahnhofstraße.
His company becomes one of the town’s largest clock manufacturers; FederWERK stands in its former factory building today. Steam engines arrive, and the Schwarzwaldbahn railway opens in 1873.
1900–1945
Sound, gramophones & electrical engineering
Technology learns to sound. Clockmaking know-how gives rise to gramophone drives, and electrical engineering brings new drives to the town.
1945–1970
Reconstruction & series production
After the war much begins anew. From 1948 the Schmidt brothers make ballpoint pen refills. Otto Rapp founds his own company in 1949. DUAL launches its first record changer in 1949, and Perpetuum-Ebner the REX A in 1954. In 1963 Dieter Grässlin develops the world’s first time switch in a standard housing size. In 1964 Tobias Baeuerle & Söhne celebrates its centenary with 650 employees.
1970–2000
Electronics & automation
In 1971 Christoph Jäckle completes his astronomical art clock. In 1972 two collectors from St. Georgen lay the foundation for the German Phono Museum. In 1983 Häseler Metalltechnik emerges from parts of DUAL. In 1992 ebm, led by Gerhard Sturm, takes over Papst Motoren, which becomes ebm-papst. In 1994, after 130 years, the history of Tobias Baeuerle & Söhne comes to an end.
2000–today
GreenTech, MedTech, digitalisation
In 2002 the Sterman company moves into the design offices of the old factory building. In 2004 Martin Zimmermann founds the first VR cluster in the Black Forest in St. Georgen, and in 2015 the company imsimity for XR learning software. With „GreenTech“ ebm-papst focuses on energy efficiency and develops quiet blowers for respiratory therapy. And in 2018 the clock factory becomes Hotel FederWERK.
The Papst family
Inventor, entrepreneur, builder: how Hermann Papst shaped St. Georgen with around 1,000 technical concepts – and why his family stands behind FederWERK today.
