Helmut Sinn

See Also: Sinn

Helmut Sinn (1916-2018) was a German aviator and businessman who established his eponymous company to sell clocks and watches in 1956. Sinn pioneered direct-to-consumer marketing of watches, especially for the military and sportsmen. He took over the stock of Breitling when it failed in 1979, manufactured the first Bell & Ross watches in the 1990s, and revived the Guinand brand late in life.

Early Life

Helmut Sinn was born in Metz, then part of Germany, in 1916. He had an interest in aviation and trained as a pilot during World War II. Flying for the Luftwaffe, he was shot down over Russian territory and lost both of his pinky fingers. He spent the rest of the war as a flight instructor but was forced to give up that vocation following Allied victory.

Searching for a new career, Sinn turned to the burgeoning field of auto racing. He won a rally from Algiers to Cape Town in a Volkswagen Beetle in 1953, but found little financial success as a driver.

Establishment of Sinn

Sinn capitalized on the presence of American troops in Germany, selling cuckoo clocks throughout the 1950s. In 1956, Sinn, then living in Frankfurt am Main, established a "special clocks" business under his own name. The "Spezialuhren" term would define his career in clock and watch making and remains associated with the firm to this day.

At first, Sinn was an importer of Heuer chronographs and stopwatches for Germany. Seeking to expand his business, he established a branch in Switzerland in 1965. Initially located in Zürich, the branch was moved to Berne and then La Chaux-de-Fonds as his local representative, Dr. Adolf Léon Benz of Winterthur, moved his own offices.

Success in Military and Space

In the 1960s and 1970s, Sinn's firm became involved in the repair and refurbishment of Heuer and Leonidas chronographs used by the Bundeswehr. He soon began customizing these watches for military use, developing his own variants to supply military contracts. Sinn supplied dashboard clocks for aircraft during this period, including the Luftwaffe.

In 1979, Sinn purchased the remaining stock of watches and components of Breitling. This gave the company a base on which to build the development of their own watches. The company was famous starting in the 1980s for practical and tough watches for military and civilian aviation, diving, and timing. In 1985 one of his watches was worn by a German astronaut on the Spacelab station.

Sinn pioneered the direct-to-consumer sales model in watches, issuing catalogs and fulfilling orders by mail. The brand became famous for producing high-quality watches at affordable prices. Though it never gained much broad awareness, Sinn was respected especially by dive watch enthusiasts.

When two French designers wanted to establish their own brand, Bell & Ross, they turned to Sinn. The resulting watches wore their new brand but also proclaimed "by Sinn" on the dial and were very close to Sinn's own offerings.

Later Life

In 1994, the 78 year old Sinn sold his eponymous firm to former IWC engineer Lothar Schmidt. He had intended to continue working with the firm, but the two soon had a falling-out and the company continued without its founder.

Helmut Sinn was not done with the watch industry, however. He acquired the defunct Swiss brand Guinand in 1995 and set up his own firm, Jubilar, at the same time. The two companies were merged under the Guinand name a few years later. This new company produced military-inspired watches offered at affordable prices, the same formula that worked for Sinn in previous decades.

In 2015 the 99 year old retired, selling Guinand. He died on February 14, 2018, at the age of 101.