VUFE invented the first electric watch — and lost the patent to Hamilton

Helmut Epperlein joined a small watch workshop in Ersingen near Pforzheim in 1950, three years after Pius Reiling founded it. When Reiling left in 1952, Epperlein took over and renamed the company Vereinigte Uhrenfabriken Ersingen — VUFE. He began developing an electric watch movement with an elongated coil on the balance wheel and a three-magnet system, filing a German utility model in January 1958.

From 1955, Epperlein collaborated with the Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His inventions formed the basis of the Hamilton Electric 500, launched on 3 January 1957 — the world's first electrically driven balance-wheel wristwatch. It was a sensation, and Elvis Presley wore the asymmetrical Ventura model in Blue Hawaii. Epperlein licensed the technology to build the same watch for the German market under the name Epperlein 100.

The Epperlein 100 was a disaster. The electric movements were unreliable — roughly 30% had to be taken back from customers. Epperlein spent 1959 developing a completely redesigned version, also called Epperlein 100, of which about 500 were made. But the damage was done: on 21 September 1959, Epperlein's patent was transferred to Hamilton. He had lost the intellectual property that made his company valuable.

The company, renamed Uhren-Werk-Ersingen (UWERSI) in 1957, never recovered. The electric watch market was Hamilton's, and the mechanical watch market was being eaten by quartz. VUFE filed for insolvency on 2 April 1971 and was dissolved the same year.