In 1840, locksmith A.C.C. Joachims set up on his own in Hamburg and began to build scales. He had acquired the necessary know-how from the Strasbourg mechanic and monk Quintenz who had invented the decimal scale in 1821. In the course of the next thirty years, the locksmith’s workshop developed into a small factory. However, the business stagnated when Joachims died in 1874. Things started to improve again when Frederik Vogel, a young businessman, purchased the scales factory in 1888. He expanded the product range and introduced the brand name seca which he had registered in 1897.