Ruhla Garde - Chess set - Garde EKLA - beech wood

Unique Garde chess clock
In good condition...works well and all keys are original
The winding mechanism is fine.
Made in the GDR around 1960 at the Ruhla factory in Thuringia
A unique piece due to the ELKA mark on the bottom (plate missing)
Also the clock has an extra inlaid edge of lighter beech wood around it.
The name ELKA comes from Lazarus Kiek who had two shops in Amsterdam including the world-famous Kalverstraat.
When selling his inventory, there were 700 clocks in his shop of the Garde brand with the ELKA plate.
The maker in the early days of Garde was UMF...later Ruhla. Garde ELKA chess clock made of beech wood, made in Germany by Ruhla ELKA, estimated to be from 1960–1970, height 13 cm and width 22 cm.
Beautiful Garde chess or draughts clock...made by Ruhla in East Germany..GDR, runs perfectly...everything original.
Buttons and levers present...
Winding mechanism is fine
Clock made around 1960... about 65 years old ...
For the collector or fervent chess players or draughts players...it makes the game complete.
The tradition of Ruhla clock production goes back to 1890, the year the first timepieces were built by Gebroeders Thiele - Uhren und Maschinenfabrik (UMF) - Ruhla
The Garde chess clocks were first used at the Chess Olympiad in Leipzig in 1960 and since then also the official competition clock at the world championships, e.g. Karpov – Kasparov up to the PCA rematch between Kasparov and Short in 1993 in London - After this the digital clock made its entry on the World Championship podium.
A unique piece, thus... certainly for the collector