Our history

The Beginnings in 1873

Christian Kremp, having come from Philippstein, registered his business as a piano maker in Wetzlar on November 1. Since he had also learned to work with metals through the construction of various musical instruments, he repaired clocks, sewing machines, and similar items that were brought to him.

“Petersburg” is noted by the bookkeeper of Christian Kremp’s small business in Wetzlar in the mail dispatch book, in the finest office handwriting, as the destination of the shipment. He would never have dreamed that this entry might still interest anyone more than 150 years later. In fact, the entries in this postal dispatch book from August 1883 document that he shipped his products beyond the regional postal district of Wetzlar and even abroad.

The career of founder Christian Kremp as a carpenter

But let us first look back to the year 1843, when, on February 1 in Ennerich near the river Lahn, the miner Johann Georg Kremp and his wife Elisabeth welcomed their only child, a son named Christian. Johann Georg, who had been born in Wellmich am Rhein, had traveled up the Lahn River as far as Braunfels in search of better work.
He started out as a miner, then became a foreman, was eventually promoted to chief foreman, and for a time was even a co-owner of an iron ore mine in the area around Solms on the Lahn. Even as a teenager, Christian was dexterous, skilled, and interested in both technology and the arts, and would have preferred to start an apprenticeship as a watchmaker. However, no such apprenticeship was available in the Braunfels area, so he initially began training with his father in mining.
After a year, however, his father relented, and the son began an apprenticeship as a carpenter with Master Konrad Kreiner in Braunfels. While this was not yet the longed-for path to the technically oriented watchmaking trade, it was at least a craft that required creativity and skill.
From the very beginning, Christian demonstrated technical precision, great ingenuity, and empathy, and so it was only natural that he took over Konrad Kreiner’s carpentry shop when Konrad emigrated to the United States in 1867.

...and as a mechanic

By the age of fifteen, Christian had already built his own guitar, complete with tuning mechanisms, and so his carpentry shop now routinely manufactures replacement parts for musical instruments and offers a tuning service. As production increasingly shifted toward musical instruments, he relocated his business on November 1, 1873, to Wetzlar, moving into the house of J.P. Zisseler on what is now Lahnstraße, and after a few years, further to Hofstatt. In the meantime, Christian had taught himself the basics of mechanics and began manufacturing spindles and hook assemblies for the tuning mechanisms of his zithers as standard components.
Start of technical production in Wetzlar – the breakthrough
During his time in the Hofstatt - a Place in the middle of Wetzlar, the transition from carpentry to technical manufacturing had taken place when Moritz Hensoldt - a friend of Christian Kremp’s since their days in Braunfels - asked him to help solve a technical problem with one of his microscopes. Although the optics of microscopes were already remarkably advanced at that time, the mechanics for focusing and stage movement lagged behind. Christian was indeed able to present Moritz Hensoldt with an ingenious solution in the form of a helical drive, and Hensoldt encouraged him to continue working in this direction. Kremp recognized the potential of this development and not only designed the necessary machine tools and cutting tools himself, but also put together a standardized production program featuring gears and gear racks, while simultaneously offering the milling cutters required for their manufacture.

The optical division is added

It was also Hensoldt who introduced Christian Kremp to the fundamentals of optics. By this time, the company was located on Silhöfertorstraße, now known as Ernst-Leitz-Straße. In the early years of the last century, the product range was expanded to include optical components, and in 1913, Christian’s son Georg Kremp took over the company from his father, who was granted power of attorney. He expands the optical division to include lenses, magnifying glasses, binoculars, and theater glasses, eventually developing the company’s own line of microscopes. During and immediately after World War I, civilian technical production collapses, and the company begins manufacturing components for the military; after the war ends, production of woodworking products resumes with the help of the founder’s expertise.
After a short time, however, optical and precision-mechanical products were once again being produced and exported to many countries. Due to the constant expansion of the new production, the spatial situation soon had to be improved again, and so the buildings at what is now Ernst-Leitz-Straße 44–50 with residential and commercial spaces and an elongated factory hall were gradually constructed.
Christian Kremp had stipulated that after his death, the company was to be divided into two divisions. One division was to continue his life’s work gear cutting and be managed by his grandsons. The second division was to cover the still-growing field of optical products and be led by his son Georg. Following his father’s death, however, he took over management of the gear-cutting company on behalf of his minor sons, Hermann and Heinrich. Under his leadership, the optical company expanded its product range to include its own line of cameras, including the “Kreca.”

Production 1933–1945

From 1933 to 1945, the company returned to arms production after the civilian market for its products collapsed once again. This difficult period brought considerable hardship for the two Kremp companies: due to a lack of “loyalty to the regime,” their production capabilities were severely restricted by a ban on independent arms production and the confiscation of key machinery; moreover, the company’s premises sustained several direct bomb hits during various air raids on Wetzlar.

Reconstruction and Growth After World War II

After World War II, Georg Kremp and his sons Hermann and Heinrich immediately set about resuming production, and soon they were able to produce at pre-war levels again and even surpass them. Once again, it was various finished optical products that were manufactured in the optics company, and of course they continued to produce optical and precision mechanical components not only for domestic firms but also for customers all over the world. During the economic miracle, the two companies together employed about 190 people. However, this number began to decline in the 1970s, particularly at the optics company, due to increased competition from the Far East, and as a result, operations at the optics company were discontinued in 1979.
Under the leadership of Heinrich Kremp, however, the gear manufacturing company remained in high demand as a reliable supplier of precision mechanical components. The buildings on Ernst-Leitz-Straße had long since ceased to meet the requirements for heavy machinery and modern production methods, so that same year the site was sold to the city of Wetzlar, which established its fire station there.

The Company Today

The current buildings at Hörnsheimer Eck 13a in Wetzlar were occupied in 1980, and the fourth generation of the Kremp family – primarily Heinrich Kremp’s son Christian and later his brother as well – began to assume increasing responsibility. Since 1996, Christian Kremp, a graduate engineer, has led the company as sole shareholder and managing director and has had to quickly adapt to the challenges of a market undergoing rapid technological change. He introduced CNC technology, modernized the machinery, and shifted the company’s focus away from large-scale production – where it could no longer compete with Asian rivals –  toward the manufacture of high-precision precision mechanical components, including in small and very small batches.
Kremp Wetzlar Präzisionszahnräder Christian Kremp GmbH + Co. KG thus continues the tradition of its founder, who, through ingenuity and a solution-oriented, flexible approach, transformed the company from a carpentry shop into a technical enterprise. The company, which grew from such humble beginnings, presents itself today as a leading

The tradition lives on

Today, the company partners with leading firms in the fields of precision engineering, optics, mechanical engineering, and medical technology. It specializes in the production of precision gears, racks, and gear teeth on every conceivable component made from every conceivable material. Its strength lies in the customized fulfillment of customer requirements outside the realm of mass production, where the highest precision and reliability are essential. And this extends all the way down to the production of a single piece. With 20 employees and a modern machine park, large series are of course also manufactured today at competitive prices, and an extensive range of standardized gears and racks in many shapes is available from the in-house catalog.
And although handwritten lettering is now a long-forgotten art form and has been replaced by mundane digital fonts, computers continue to print addresses all over the world as destinations for products from Kremp in Wetzlar on the Lahn...