Did you know that Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks have been around for over 100 years, and have been the oldest clock company in the USA continuously producing grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks. Ridgeway Clocks is also definitely one of the most admired names of grandfather clock makers in the grandfather clocks market. Their trademarked tag line is that the grandfather clock is the heartbeat of the home. That is a clocks sentiment that we have always appreciated and with which we can identify.
Historically, for the vast majority of its life, Ridgeway Clocks was located in Virginia, where the grandfather clocks were also made, except for the fact that each grandfather clock had an imported high-quality German mechanical movement, most being made by Hermle Clocks. About 8-10 years ago, Ridgeway Clocks was purchased by another grandfather clock maker, Howard Miller Clocks. Over time, Howard Miller has integrated and moved Ridgeway Clocks production facilities to Howard Miller’s manufacturing and crafting facility in Michigan, so that today, all of the mechanical grandfather clock of both brands are made in the same location in Michigan. Both brands now use grandfather clock mechanical movements made by the German company Kieninger Clocks. Kieninger Clocks movements are comparable in quality to Hermle Clocks movements.
Howard Miller Clocks, which used to use on Hermle Grandfather Clock movements in their grandfather clocks, started using Kieninger Clock mechanical movements after they purchased Kieninger Clocks about 8 years ago, deciding to become a more vertically integrated grandfather clocks manufacturer. At the time of the purchase of kieninger, we understand that Kieninger was much smaller than Hermle, although both companies have a rich German and European heritage going back well over 100 years. Howard Miller purchased Kieninger with part of the goal at least being the use of the Kieninger Clocks movements in both Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks and Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks, which is what they both use today.
For practical purposed, in recent years, aside fro the name on the front of the grandfather clock dial and different grandfather clock designs and styles, Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks can be thought of as identical to Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks. Because the Ridgeway name had been so well regarded for so long, with many followers and a great reputation, Howard Miller Clocks was smart enough to keep the Ridgeway Clock name alive as a separate division or brand within Howard Miller clocks. So aside from different designs, all of the comparable mechanical grandfather clocks for both Ridgeway and Howard Miller are made in the same place, by the same people and equipment, and comparable models have comparable or identical movements made by Kieninger Clocks. The quality of the grandfather clock chimes will therefore be identical, as well as the method of grandfather clock case construction.
Now one family of grandfather clock makers:
Kieninger Grandfather Clocks and Grandfather Clock Movement Makers
Ridgeway Grandfather Clocks
Howard Miller Grandfather Clocks
Kieninger Grandfather Clocks