Garde Uhren
Established 1862Founded in 1862 by Christian and Georg Thiel as a metal factory, Ruhla is a watch manufacturer in Germany, mostly known for its Gardé chess clocks. In 1892, Ruhla began with the production of pocket watches. In general, companies in Glashütte are more likely responsible for high quality watches, the focus in Ruhla was mainly on the cheapest possible mass production and utility watches like radio clocks, alarm clocks and chess clocks.
The Garde brand is the gold standard for analog chess clocks. It was first used in the Berlin International festival in 1951 and was the last non-digital clock to be used in a World Championship match (between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short in 1993).
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