Uhlig’s stepson, Christian Friedrich Reichel, also entered the instrument-making business in Chemnitz in 1850. According to the city’s address book, he ran a harmonica company at “Spitzgasse 11”, later “Lohgasse1-2”, in Chemnitz.
In 1854, he already offered five different accordion models at the Munich Trade Exhibition, including instruments with 88 and 100 tones.
In an advert from 1855, a 100-note instrument with 5 rows of keys can be seen on the right-hand side, which stands out from the others in that, unlike his models, it has not four but five holes between the handle and the keypad as was the case with the bandoneons sold by Heinrich Band.
From 1856, C.F. Reichel was already operating an accordion and physharmonica factory in Waldheim, as can be seen from the Anzeiger and entertainment paper for Döbeln, Waldheim, Hartha, Roßwein and their surrounding villages of 16 May 1856.
Production was not industrialised, but mainly home-made and partly accomplished in the local prison.
In addition to Zimmermann und Reichel numerous other producers established themselves in the region in the middle of the 19th century.
Source: Statistics and situation of industry and trade in the Kingdom of Saxony up to the latest time (end of 1864)