 |
History of the Feldmar Watch Co.
Jack Feldmar, the founder of the Feldmar Watch Co., immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1913. He and his family settled in Newark, New Jersey, where Jack called upon pawnshop owners and offered to repair their broken watches for fifteen cents. The illness of his wife Bella brought Jack and his three sons to Los Angeles.  Jack shared office space with a tailor on Temple Street and continued to repair watches from pawnshops and jewelry stores that did not have their own watchmakers.
A few years later Jack opened an office on 4th and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles where he taught his son Barney the art of watchmaking.
During World War II, when new watches, and particularly stopwatches were not available, the telephone company came to Feldmar with 196 stopwatches that other watchmakers declared irreparable. Using parts from other stopwatches Jack and Barney were able to repair 186 stopwatches earning them a contract with Western Electric. Recognizing the importance of stopwatches they started repairing and selling stopwatches to many of the local schools, studios and industries.
In 1956 Feldmar Watch Co. moved to Pico Blvd. With Barney and his wife Harriet taking over the business when Jack retired.
With sports car rallying becoming popular about this time, specializing in stopwatches was a real asset. The need for stopwatches grew with swimming, track, and rowing teams, sailboat racing, piloting, horseracing and jogging. Feldmar became known for having the largest selection of stopwatches and authored the booklet, Timing in the World of Sports.
In the early 60's the first electronic watch, the Bulova Accutron was invented. The precision of the Accutron fit right in with a timing company and Bulova appointed the Feldmar Watch Co. to be the Accutron Center for the Los Angeles area. In no time at all they were the number one Accutron Center in the United States.
In 1972 Sol Meller, the Feldmar's son-in-law, joined the company and has been the force behind the growth of Feldmar Watch Co., as it is know today. Sol has expanded on the tradition of selection and service that has been the hallmark of Feldmar. Under Sol's leadership, Feldmar had continued to grow adding new product lines,  and was recently listed in The Los Angeles Business Journal, as one of the fastest growing companies in Los Angeles.
|
|
|
