On 5 May 1878, when 21-year-old certified watchmaker Gerhard Diedrich Wilhelm Wempe founded his own company with a starting capital of 80 deutsche marks, no one could foresee that this company would grow into a large international business. The foundations of the modern German state were laid during the same period: 1878 marked the formulation of the anti-Socialist laws by Otto Bismarck. Konrad Adenauer, the man who would lead Germany to economic revitalisation after World War II, was born in 1876. As things turned out, Gerhard Wempe had a special talent in marketing and merchandising, displaying his watches on velvet-covered trays that he had built himself. He constructed large shop windows and display cases which effectively turned his aunt’s living room into a jewellery showroom. Mr. Wempe was soon able to hire an assistant, indulge in his taste for fine clothes, and even buy himself a “big-wheel” bicycle, which was a status symbol in those days. In his leisure time, the entrepreneur practised gymnastic exercises at the local sports club.