A History and Guide to Laco – Windup Watch Shop

By the outbreak of the Second World War, Durowe was manufacturing 30,000 movements per month. Many of these ebauches found their way into Laco watches produced for the German Luftwaffe. Laco was one of just five companies producing these highly accurate pilots’ watches known as Fliegers, from the German for ”flyer” or “pilot.” A. Lange & Söhne, Stowa, Wempe, and IWC all met the strict requirements set by the Reichsluftministerium.

Type A and B Fliegers, also known as Beobachtungs-Uhren or B-Uhren (observation watches), were the most unique of the watches issued to aviators during the Second World War. Where many Allied nations simply issued higher-grade versions of their standard field watches, the Flieger featured a significantly larger case with two unique dial layouts focused on legibility for the sake of navigation. These designs have highly influenced pilot watch design in the years following the war.

Their Pforzheim manufacturing facilities were decimated by Allied bombing. Under the Marshall Plan, Laco was able to rebuild and resume manufacturing. The Laco Sport featured Durowe’s first automatic movement and became a popular model as movement production rose to over 80,000 new calibers monthly.

In February 1959, Laco and Durowe were sold to US Time Corporation, a company better recognized under the name it adopted in 1969 —Timex. US Time was specifically interested in the electric movement technology they had developed. Durowe was split from Laco in September 1965 when Timex sold it to movement manufacturer ETA SA, today the main movement arm of the SWATCH Group.

The Quartz Crisis of the 1970s saw Laco turn to promotional watches to stay above water. It saw them through a decade where many established brands withered and died due to the inability to compete with the rapidly changing industry. In the 1980s, Horst Günther took over leadership at Laco and relaunched it with a focus on high-quality, German-made watches using Swiss and Japanese movements. The brand relaunched the Flieger to celebrate its 75th anniversary, with the design becoming a catalog staple in the early 2000s.

Unfortunately, trouble sprang up again by the end of the 2000s, with Laco facing insolvency in June 2009. Kienzle, AG took over, but this partnership dissolved in early 2010. Laco regained independence that spring and has since focused further on launching new models paying tribute to its aeronautical heritage.