Details

Design for the proposed new shop front for Kaltenbach’s Watchmakers and Jewellers at 22 Caroline Street.  Kaltenbach has been spelt incorrectly as ‘Keltenbach’ on the design. 

Dr William Linnard, Horologist and former Chairman of the Wales and Marches Horological Society tells us about the history of the business:
“Edward and Adrian Kaltenbach came to Cardiff from Baden (now part of Germany) the 1860s when the place was expanding rapidly thanks to coal. They set up their watch, clock and jewellery business in Caroline Street, a business which continued to flourish on the same site for nearly 150 years.  For a time Adrian Kaltenbach had a separate shop at 39 Caroline Street, where in 1876 he advertised ‘All kinds of English and Foreign Watches, Clocks, and Jewellery repaired’.   Edward Kaltenbach continued the business at 22 & 23 Caroline Street until about 1906 and later his son Arthur inherited and took over the business. Arthur Kaltenbach, jeweller and watchmaker, ran the business for very many years, and in the 1990s it was still being continued by his daughters Christine and Theresa.  However, not long afterwards the Kaltenbach business in Caroline Street finally closed down, bringing to an end a family business that had operated through wars and periods of economic depression for nearly a century and a half.”