It may not be late-breaking news considering the announcement was made a few months ago, but as of June 30th, Guinand Watches is closed for business. Many of you may not think much of it, which is understandable; Guinand wasn’t exactly a major watch manufacturer. However, there’s a bit more to the story from our perspective.
The man behind the curtain at Guinand was none other than Helmut Sinn. After 33 years of running Sinn, Helmut sold his shares to Lothar Schmidt in 1994. Shortly thereafter, Herr Sinn bought a majority share of Guinand Watches, a company that had worked with Sinn for many years. Keep in mind, Herr Sinn was about 80 years old when he decided to change his career path – a man with absolutely no lack in passion.
Helmut Sinn
Prior to Herr Sinn taking control, Guinand Watches had a longstanding history of quality watchmaking. For many years, Guinand was on the leading edge of chronograph production back in the pocket watch days, specifically with rattrapante chronographs. After managing to navigate the quartz crisis, Sinn and Guinand formed a partnership that obviously ended up paying off tremendously for both parties.
With Herr Sinn at the helm, he was able to continue his watchmaking mission of providing legible, high quality, and affordable watches. Guindand’s watches may not be the glitziest or most attractive, but you can clearly see his influence in the designs. Our favorites are the Series 40, Flying Officer, and the Buren 12. The last of those uses NOS caliber 12 chronographs, which were improved upon versions of the caliber 11, arguably the first automatic chronograph movement in the world. Aside from the Buren 12, you’ll find that the majority of Guinand’s offerings land under $2,000 after VAT is taken out. With their pedigree, they’re one of the best values in this competitive price range.
Guinand Series 40 — photo courtesy of user BigBen of Sinn-UhrenForum
Fortunately, Guinand isn’t closing down due to poor sales, it’s because Herr Sinn is finally retiring (he’s nearly 98!). The situation is the definition of bittersweet. We’re happy to see Herr Sinn break away and enjoy is remaining years, but the watch industry is truly losing one of the good ones. It’s true that Horst Hassler has been the managing director of Guinand for some time, but from everything we know about Herr Sinn, we have to imagine he was still fairly involved.
The best thing that can happen from here are young watchmakers following Herr Sinn’s example of providing high quality watches at affordable prices. With today’s ease of communication, there’s not nearly as much need for the tremendous overhead of retailers and boutiques. We’re already seeing a solid trend of internet boutique brands like Halios, Martenero, and SevenFriday gain popularity, let’s hope it continues.
If you head to Guinand’s website, you’ll see the bi-lingual closing notice. They will still be assisting customers through September 30th while Uhrenwerkstatt Huneke has already taken over servicing. We contacted Guinand to ask about remaining stock, and there is still a decent range of watches left, so we recommend jumping on them while the gettin’ is good. We’re looking to get our hands on a Series 40 before they’re gone, and hopefully we’ll have a review for you in the near future. In closing, we’d like to congratulate Herr Helmut Sinn on a tremendous career; we wish him the best.
Featured photo of the Buren 12 courtesy of UhrForum user, Deichkind.
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