“German the Clock! German the Sound!”
Melodic gong sounds were a strong sales argument for clocks intended for living areas. The Black Forest clock companies tried to outdo each other with a great deal of advertising.
The Schlenker & Kienzle Company of Schwenningen began advertising Valkyrie, Walhalla and Wotan Gongs as early as the Empire period. Following the National Socialists’ rise to power in 1933, the company outdid itself with “new German gongs” that sounded the first notes of the National Socialistic Horst Wessel song or of the carillon melody of the Potsdam garrison Church.
The other clock companies did not want to lag behind. Mauthe’s “German Volksgong” played the SA hymn entitled “Volk ans Gewehr” (People at Arms). Junghans, however, came up with the most convincing sales proposition: To assure that the strike would not interfere with Adolf Hitler’s radio talks, the “Bim-Bam Vollklang” (full sound) (…) would remain silent when the radio was in receiving mode. This was because it was equipped with a mechanism that could turn off the striking train.
These striking trains were installed in the buffet clocks, the so-called “Napoleon hats”. There was ample room in the broad case for the long chime bars.