Johann Baptist Beha (1815 - 1898) was a prestigious Black Forest clockmaker born in Oberbränd (Eisenbach).

While the big factories - Junghans, Kienzle, Philipp Haas und Söhne and Werner, and the smaller firms like Dold, Hilser, Gordian Hettich Sohn, Rombach and Maier- developed their cuckoo clock production in response to the growing demand of the new middle-class for a cheaper clock, especially cheaper carvings, the Behas followed a contrary strategy.

A similar strategy was followed by other Black Forest clock manufacturers such as Emilian Wehrle, Winterhalder & Hofmeier, Maurer und Höfler, etc.

[3] The Beha enterprise struggled during the 1920s to recover the lost export market facing extremely difficult economic times and during the 1930s, with the onset of the economic dictatorship of the "Hitler Regime" in the year 1933, the use of brass and copper was strictly rationed, although the production continued on a very limited scale until 1938.

For the clocks shown in Philadelphia in 1876, the firm was honored with the meritory medal by the United States Centennial Commission.

Johann Baptist Beha represented the typical Black Forest clockmaker of the 18th and 19th century: experimenting, inventing, self-educated, always seeking solutions with limited theoretical knowledge, creating technical miracles beyond any comparison today.