Glashütte Original

Eleven years ago, during a GO exhibition in Salzburg, I had the chance to take pictures of the wonderful "J. Assmann 3" with flying tourbillon and retrograde calendar. With its skeletonized movement and case that can be worn both on the wrist and as a pocket watch, it is a truly unique timepiece.

One or two days later, two criminals assaulted the exhition, smashing the showcases with a hammer and stealing many watches, among them this Assmann and others from the GO museum collection. Luckily, the robbers lost one of their bags during their hasty escape, so the Assmann was saved. I never got to know whether the rest of the booty could be secured as well.

When browsing through my HD folders, I found these pictures which I'd like to share with you:



















Marcus

strange carrying a pocket watch that had lugs for a strap also.

Here is a GO picture of their very first "Assmann" illustrating the principle:



Marcus

Thanks for sharing with us these nice shots of a rare timepiece.

Best wishes

Alkiro

best regards
Georges

That was my nickname in college.

You can always change your avatar on here too. I bet you could find a suitable picture if you Google "Assmann" too ;-)

nt

I suppose GO is no longer in the business of making 'outlandish' watches like this one but it's a great reminder of what has been!

The Assmann pieces were certainly targeted at showcasing the abilities of the manufacture and to establish its reputation.
But I wonder in how far the motivation to make these extravagant models was also pointed inwards. It might well be that after more that 30 years of building simple watches for the mass market under difficult circumstances the watchmakers needed the chance to rebuild and showcase their possibilities and self esteem again.
So I think the Assmann model are not only extraordinary watches but also very interesting pieces in their historic context.
Thank you, Marcus, for bringing them back to our attention!
Best, Martin

... not only a sign of strength to the world outside, but also to the local watchbuilding community. You know, that at Glashütte and Dresden, all watchmakers know each other. Therefore, I, too, think, it was a move by Heinz Pfeifer to demonstrate a revival of the tradition that did not come out of Swiss-supplied patents and watchmakers. However, many vital construction features of the tourbillon where the result of assignments to Swiss masters ...
Marcus