Hanhart Gambit Chess Clock, Czechoslovakia / Germany, 1980's

Hanhart Gambit Chess Clock, Czechoslovakia / Germany, 1980's

Here is an interesting new find for you. I guess most of you are familiar with the Prim Gambit clock. The Gambit clock was allegedly introduced as a Gardé knock off by Chronotechna, the Czech clockmaker which was established in Šternberk by the communists after expropriation of the Junghans factory in Broumov and the Kienzle factory in Chomutov. Prim was a subsidiary of Chronotechna specializing in watches. It was founded in 1949 and the "Prim" brand was registered in 1956. Around 1960, i.e. more or less parallel to the Leipzig Olympiad and the launch of the Ruhla Gardé clock, Chronotechna introduced their well known bakelite clock, but it was not very successful in its competition against the Gardé. Therefore, Chronotechna shortly afterwards introduced the Gambit clock. This must have been before 1969, because the Prim Gambit clocks come with the old Prim logo, which was replaced with a new, more modern looking logo in 1969. The Prim Gambit is not very rare, but a fine looking clock, in particular with the black front and the light case. What is less known is that at some point in time Prim was apparently cooperating with Jerger. According to a  reputable collector, Jerger "took over" Prim in 1962 in order to stimulate their sluggish sales markets with the unusual design of the Gambit clock. Rather than a formal "take over", I personally assume it was more of a cooperation of  the type that Jerger also had with other clock manufacturers (e.g.  Heuer). However, the initial sale under the brand Jerger succeeded only  until 1970, when the distribution under this brand stopped. Hence, the second version of the Gambit clock, the Jerger Gambit, is much rarer than the Prim Gambit. And now I can present to you the third Gambit clock, which is the Hanhart Gambit clock. When Chronotechna struggled in the 1980's the German company Hanhart stepped in, but only for a limited time, because shortly after the Berlin Wall came down, Chronotechna was privatised and split up. Therefore, the Hanhart Gambit is most likely the rarest of all Gambit clocks. The black front is identical to the Prim and Jerger Gambits, just with the "hanhart" logo, but the case is pitch black, which makes this a very special looking chess clock for sure.
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