Luxury watches are as common as they come these days.

Why?

Because everyone thinks they are buying exclusivity… but… they are not.

Why?

Because people who can afford luxury watches buy them from brands like Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, Blancpain, and Chopard, among others.

Why?

Because each company furiously advertises its wares as ‘exclusive’… but… they are not.
Why?

Because everyone has heard of them and buys them.

Now… ssshh… keep this to yourself… because ASKANIA watches are extremely exclusive – they are the perfection of the horological art. ASKANIAs are not manufactured – they are lovingly assembled for you… and truly exclusive.

Why?

Well, they are poles apart from ordinary “luxury” watches – because every ASKANIA creation is meticulously designed, committed to metal, glass and precious stones, then assembled by seemingly perfect hands of precision watchmakers who are proud as punch about their creations – exceptionally special people who possess unwavering devotion to their horological craft. In fact, they have an almost spiritual dedication to perfection. And all this happens in Berlin – Yes! Dynamic Berlin, with ASKANIA crafting the jigsaw of watch parts in the capital city.

For them and Leonhard Müller, it is not just about building unique and exclusive watches but imbuing them with soul, history, and purpose – so that you, the lucky wearer, can admire, use, enjoy, and then pass them down from one generation to the next.

When you wear your exquisite ASKANIA watch, notice how you sense the passion and time devoted to crafting your perfect creation – your exclusive creation! It’s a lovely feeling – an exclusive ASKANIA feeling.

Now… who on earth is Leonhard Müller?

He, thank goodness, loves, adores, dreams about, and cannot take his mind off quality watches, especially pilot watches – old pilot watches.

So, let me introduce you to the wundebar, herrlichen and schönen world of Leonhard Müller, now inextricably linked to the Brand and ASKANIA.

Leonhard not only lives and breathes pilot watches; he is mad about them – so much so that he revived a famous Berlin company to manufacture luxury watches, but not ordinary luxury watches, and not designed and assembled in Switzerland – it was to be Die Hauptstadt Uhr – the capital watch – the Berlin watch.

His love for all things horological stemmed from his professional life in the Swiss watch industry, as well as his birth in the gold and watchmaking town of Pforzheim, where he completed his apprenticeship with a company of no less distinction than Christian Dior.

His life changed when he discovered a book entitled “German Military Timepieces” by Konrad Knirim, where he found the precision products of a once-famous, pre-World War II Berlin manufacturer of pilot watches and precision instruments called ASKANIA Werke.

Leonhard explained that reading the Knirim book gave him an epiphany – his “Big bang!”.

“My fondness for pilot watches inspired me to continue the magnificent work undertaken by ASKANIA. It was a crazy idea, but one that fascinated me so much that, from then on, my thoughts and aspirations just revolved around ASKANIA watches.”

So, Leonhard did it – ASKANIA was born again, coming into being in Berlin as a wish of the founding shareholder, Martina Dold, back to its roots in the capital city. This rebirth of ASKANIA was the result of Martina undertaking two years of detailed research into the company in southern Germany and Switzerland. The results not only impressed and surprised Leonhard and Martina but also demonstrated that the ASKANIA story was authentic and truly remarkable.

2004 was a pivotal year for the company, as Leonhard acquired the rights to all parts of the Patent brand name ASKANIA, registering them in the German commercial register. He tested his plans for the company’s resurgence among potential customers at the 2004 International Air and Space Show at Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport in Schönefeld – and the avalanche of positive reactions to his plan signalled full steam ahead to manufacture ASKANIA watches once more, which began in 2006.

So, let us rewind to the 19th century and discover why Leonhard was so captivated and enthralled by the famous ASKANIA Werke name and its glorious history that he had to revive it in Berlin.

On July 12th, 1847, Johann Carl Wilhelm Anton Bamberg, the son of self-taught watchmaker Heinrich Bamberg, was born in Kranichfeld, a small town in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Thuringia, within the German Confederation. He was to absorb his father’s precision engineering and professional work ethic to become a precision watchmaker.

In 1871, at the age of 24, Carl Bamberg established BAMBERWERKE at Linienstrasse 185 in Berlin. Carl, a protégé of Carl Zeiss, honed his precision, inventive and management skills at the renowned German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics based in Jena, Germany. His abilities enabled him to grow his Berlin-based BAMBERWERKE, later ASKANIA WERKE manufacturing company, into a world-renowned producer of precision watches, aircraft, and marine instruments.

His highly successful background at Zeiss and the growth of his precision instrument-making company enabled him to win a contract with the German Imperial Navy in 1871 to manufacture ship clocks and compasses. In no time, his precision mechanical and optical instruments, incorporating brilliant patent innovations, together with his impressive reputation, transformed his company into one of the leaders in high-precision aeronautical instruments for the German Navy, observatories, and research expeditions.

Early horological creations by Carl Bamberg were pocket watches featuring manual winding movements, which were celebrated at international trade fairs worldwide, including those in London and Philadelphia.

Unfortunately, Carl Bamberg died in 1892 at the early age of 44. However, his remarkable legacy lived on through his widow Emma, who was born with the surname Roux. Later, Carl’s son, Paul Adolf Bamberg, took over the reins of the company, which went on to manufacture the highest precision scientific instruments. The company’s reputation grew exponentially under the leadership of Max Hermann Roux, the cousin of Paul Adolf Bamberg, who joined BAMBERWERKE in 1912.

ASKANIA- WERKE AG reached its zenith during the twenties and thirties, its success stemming from the company’s merger with Zentral-Werkstatt für Gasgeräte GmbH in Dessau, Germany, which led to the formation of the famous brand ASKANIA-WERKE AG in 1921 – the company’s name being deeply rooted in medieval Berlin, originating from the House of ASKANIA, whose noble family ruled Brandenburg and Saxony from Schloss Askanien near Aschersleben. Today’s original logo, the ASKANISCHE KRONE, was hand-drawn by Carl Bamberg in honour of his wife Emma, who was an Askanian.

The company’s innovative and progressive nature evolved a kaleidoscope of products, ranging from film projectors, stereoscopic projectors, ciné projectors and the first shoulder-mounted cameras. The company’s ciné projectors were the first choice of film companies, which used them to record, for example, the UFA die “Blechtrommel”, an Oscar-winning film adaptation of Günther Grass’s novel of the same name by Volker Schlöndorff. He lived in Babelsberg, in the film city of UFA, and on his wrist was a classic ASKANIA model that Carl Bamberg designed in Art Deco style. Many other famous films, such as “The Blue Angel” with Marlene Dietrich and the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, were shot with Askania cameras.

ASKANIA-WERKE AG developed numerous precise and robust day and nighttime flying instruments for aircraft and pilot watches in the 1920s and 1930s. The instruments and watches assisted many aviation pioneers, such as Elly Beinhorn in her Messerschmitt Me 108, christened “Taifun” – Typhoon – in setting long-distance flying records. If you were a pilot or flew in a Lufthansa plane between the early 1920s and 1940, you would have undoubtedly used or seen ASKANIA cockpit and flight deck instruments. The company had highly specialised precision manufacturing sites in Berlin, located at Linienstraße 185, near the Hackesche Höfe. Then, due to necessary expansion having celebrated clients such as Junkers, Zeppelin, Dornier, Messerschmitt, Bucker, Siemens & Halske, and the Imperial Navy, the headquarters relocated to Kaiserallee 39 (now Bundesallee 86–88) in Berlin-Friedenau. By 1929, ASKANIA-WERKE AG had established divisions in Paris, Houston, and Chicago, and by 1939, the company had over 5,000 employees.

To cut a famous and remarkable company story short… for now… the chaotic nature of post-war Germany truncated the continuation of ASKANIA, which was forced to disband due to the division of its factories across the different sectors of East and West Germany and Berlin. Gradually, the name ASKANIA drifted away and was eventually absorbed by Siemens in 1971.

Roll forward to the next century with Leonhard Müller becoming engrossed in his life-changing book, “German Military Timepieces”, not only being bowled over by the impressive list of aeronautical achievements attached to the use of ASKANIA watches and instruments but also the adventurous and spirited characters of the aviators who wore and flew with them. Fancy flying non-stop, east to west across the lonely and wild Atlantic Ocean, in a single-engined Junkers W33 aircraft called Bremen? Captain Hermann Köhl, navigator Major James Fitzmaurice and owner Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld did just that on April 12th, 1928, flying safely from Baldonnel Aerodrome, Ireland, to Greenly Island, Canada, using ASKANIA cockpit instruments and pilot watches – an example of pure courage and adventure that inspired Leonhard to revive the famous name in Berlin.

Now, his thriving Berlin luxury watch company is celebrating over 150 years of the company name – ASKANIA – and its unforgettable horological art, along with its invaluable contributions to the development of aircraft and marine instruments.

Find this fascinating story of quality, precision, timeless value and stunning style and adventure at ASKANIA Berlin

Written by Peter Sissons © 2025 for Luxuria Lifestyle International

Photographs Copyright © ASKANIA & Jonathan Goepfert 2025