German watch company Junghans launched its latest model at the weekend in front of an invited audience of 150 global partners and press.
WatchPro had a front row seat when the Junghans Meister Pilot was revealed at a dinner held inside the classic car museum belonging to Junghans owner Hans-Jochem Steim. The watch, based on a 1950s Junghans pilots watch with scalloped bezel and Dubois Depraz chronograph module, is set to be launched officially at Inhorgenta next year, but 300 limited-edition pieces were released for sale on the evening to the invited distributors and retailers.
The Pilot Event 2015 in Junghans’ hometown of Schramberg, in southern Germany, saw guests from around the globe including retailers and press from Germany, the brand’s largest market, as well as Austria and distributors from Japan (second largest market), the UK, China and the US.
Earlier in the day guests were ferried to an airfield in part of Steim’s vast classic car collection including examples from Mercedes-Benz, Rolls Royce and Maybach for a bird’s eye view of the Black Forest, heralding the arrival later that evening of the pilot’s watch.
The doors of Junghans headquarters were also opened to the international group for a tour of the design and assembly facilities that produces the brand’s famed Max Bill, radio-controlled and Meister collections and the brand’s own museum.
Steim, whose family spring business had once supplied Junghans, acquired Junghans in 2009 after its parent company went bankrupt. Steim is seeking to rebuild the reputation of the brand, which was once the highest volume manufacturer of watches in the world producing 9,000 timepieces each day, with more mechanical products and higher price points.
Junghans are distributed in the UK by The Blue Company London and sold in Selfridges, Liberty, Watches of Switzerland and Stuarts Watches among others. The brand will also be exhibiting at SalonQP in November.
