Whadju call me!?

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A DUFA.

COVID was lurking. We were sheltering. Local garage sales had dried up and your clock nerd was looking for a something that had a nice striking tone. Not up for a full tall case, dime-a-dozen, Westminster chiming grandfather clock, I was nosing around at German box clocks. These clocks were very popular in the 1920's and 30's. There were probably millions made.

I also didn't want just a simple striking tone of a single coiled gong. These were the most common forms of striking clocks. I wanted a more rich-sounding, hourly-counting striker, what is often referred to as a Bim Bam or a Normandy chime (or a Ting Tang for you Brits). These were typically made in Germany from firms like Junghans, HAC, Mauthe, Gustav Becker and many others.

But I was after a particular brand. A DUFA. 

DUFA is an acronym for the company Deutsche Uhrenfabrik (German Clock Factory) Etzold and Popitz. DUFA clocks were very popular in their day but not as well-known as some other brands. and finally sold to Kienzle in 1930. So with so many other, well-known clock names out there, why did I want a DUFA? 

Well a popular (and generously knowledgable) participant on the NAWCC message boards is "soaringjoy", a German clock expert. He writes about many different German clocks but clearly his favorites are DUFAs and especially those that used the "Largo gong". He said it was especially beautiful in tone. OK I'm interested. 

So I kept my eye open for a DUFA and in July 2020 I got a hit. A DUFA box clock.

Wil, the proprietor of the High Desert Trading Post in Sahaurita, AZ, lists many of his items on eBay.

Yeah it looked a little worse for wear and I inquired about whether it had the Largo gong. Wil didn't know much about clocks much less gongs so I was limited to what his photos could tell me about it. 

He wanted $119. 

It did look to be of the era where Largo gongs were used by DUFA (1920s) and these images show an important clue... the striking rods are mounted on the back of the box at an angle slanting to the left. 



Again most striking clocks use(d) coiled gongs. Those that used straight striking or chiming rods in box clocks were almost always mounted to hang straight up and down but this angled approach was known to be the way Largo gongs were mounted in DUFA clocks. One of the NAWCC crew suggested that this was to allow for rods of greater length. 

Makes sense but I still don't know for sure if this is a Largo. Wil had little else to add. 

The other photos in the listing suggested that the clock had been living a bit of a High Desert life...


I considered it for a day or two. Wil dropped the price enough to cover the cost of shipping.

Sold American.

It took Wil 5 days to get down to the Sahaurita Walgreens that also serves as a drop ship site for Fedex.

But finally it was on its way to Chez Rancho.

I give Wil credit. He wrapped the hell out of this.



But what did I get?

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