Oct 29, 2024
In-Depth: Alfred Helwig’s Flying Tourbillon in Wrist- and Pocket Watches
The flying tourbillon marks the beginning of my career as a watch dealer and collector. In the mid-1970s, I met a former fellow pupil of mine, Richard Miklosch, in a little antique shop in my hometown of Aachen. At the time, I was unaware that Miklosch (1939-2014), originally a technical schoolteacher, had become a highly sought-after watchmaker specialising in pocket watch tourbillons (Fig. 1) – to his great credit being entirely self-taught in the field [1, p. 198][1, pp. 374-377][2, p. 140][3, p. 40]. That is how Theodor Beyer, who ran Chronometrie Beyer and Beyer Uhrenmuseum in Zürich, came to have a Miklosch tourbillon, as well as a George Daniels tourbillon, in his collection. I told him about my growing fascination for watches and my plans to start organising auctions specialised in this field. Miklosch looked at me sympathetically, and, pulling a watch out of his pocket he said: “This is one of the best precision timepieces ever made”. Although I had only rudimentary knowledge of the subject at the time, I was immediately struck by the visual aesthetics of the movement. It was one of the flying tourbillons from the famous Glashütte School; to be precise the 1930-1931 tourbillon made by Max Hahn marked “School no. 3673” and “Special no. 21”. That was my eureka moment and one that ultimately marked the beginning of my watch career. Some of these iconic watches were to pass through my hands in the following 50 years, or even to find a place in my colle...
