1878
- When only 21 years old, the skilled watchmaker Gerhard Diederich Wilhelm Wempe dares the move to independence on 5 May 1878 by starting a small business in Elsfleth, a small town near the North Sea at the Lower Weser, with a capital of 80 marks. Later on from this emerges the well-known department store chain for luxury watches Wempe.
- German watchmaker Hipp, working in Neuchatel, builds his clock with electric escapement.