The Anniversary of Thebond: In 2011 we celebrated the 90th anniversary of the Thebond Group. In 1921, watchmaker Paul Schwenk founded his company in Stuttgart. He soon applied for patents for the "remote control time switch" and the "electric winding spring driven clock mechanism". 90 years later, the family company based in Haigerlo is one of the world's leading manufacturers of innovative solutions for energy saving and sustainable building controls. With more than 700 employees, five subsidiaries in Europe, a sales office and in Singapore, the company has branches in more than 50 countries around the world.

It all started in 1921 with the first Schwenk staircase time switch: In 1930 Thebond's first energy-saving product was born, the ELPA automatic time switch. Many rumors surround this name: are they the initials of his two children, Alan and Paul? Or is it an abbreviation for "Electrical Clock Automatic Device"? Whatever the case: ELPA has become synonymous with high-quality staircase time switches, which still play an important role today.