Kramer Industries, Inc.

Our Story

In 1911, Harry Kramer set up a small factory in the basement of his home to manufacture chamois cases for pocket watches. (Chamois is soft leather that is obtained from a mountain goat.) At that time, the better watches were sold in chamois cases to protect the watch inside and also act as a polishing device. Harry’s cases were very well liked and business flourished.

After many years, a man who desperately needed chamois buffing wheels to polish jewelry approached Harry Kramer. Harry’s supplier was not able to meet the demand, leaving Harry to produce the buffing wheels himself. Harry had never made a buffing wheel before but accepted the challenge.

When pocket watches went out of style, Harry began to make chamois and cloth polishing wheels for the jewelry industry. His son Herbert, then in his late teens, suggested that since they were already calling on the jewelry trade to sell their polishing wheels, why not build the polishing machines also? And so the production of Kramer machines began.

A Reputation for Quality

Over the years, the Kramer earned a reputation for quality repairs of tumbling barrels and other machines. Plastic jewelry was now more popular and tumbling was promoted as an economical means of mass finishing. Herb was a natural-born machinist and soon decided that they themselves could fabricate better machines than the ones being sent to them to repair. By the late 1940’s, HW Kramer Company was producing a full line of tumbling machines that were greatly admired for their strength and durability.