Zeppelin Watches and POINTtec Are Secretly the Largest Watchmaker in Germany

For most collectors, German watchmaking is synonymous with Glashutte, the prestigious, iron mine-adjacent village that houses the likes of Nomos Glashutte and A. Lange & Sohne. Occasionally, Hamburg will get a mention as a hub of generally more accessible timepieces. It might come as a surprise then that one of Germany’s most popular watchmakers comes from neither, but Munich instead, in the form of POINTtec and Zeppelin Watches.

That said, POINTtec might not be a name anyone here in the UK is particularly familiar with. There’s a reason for that. POINTtec are a prolific manufacturer, but one that, for their entire history, have been the horological wizard behind the curtain, rather than the name on the dial.

It’s a way of working that started back when aircraft specialist Junkers were looking to build their own watch for their founder’s 150th birthday. They were looking for solid expertise and found it in the pairing of POINTtec and their longstanding watchmaking partner Ruhla.

Ruhla Production Factory / Junkers Watch (Image credit: eBay)

The design work was managed by POINTtec at their studio in Munich, while Ruhla’s watchmaking was carried out in the town of the same name in the breathtakingly beautiful centre of Germany. Behind the entire enterprise was Willi Birk, whose unique eye for design was what set POINTtec apart in the first place.

The Junkers watch became an instant success and put POINTtec on the map with other brands in the field, not least of which was Zeppelin. Yes, that Zeppelin, original makers of gas-filled airships. These days they’ve diversified a good deal and in doing so wanted to offer a timepiece. When they caught wind of the Junkers watch, they saw POINTtec as an unmissable opportunity.

The result was the Zeppelin watch brand, a series of distinctly vintage, bordering on classical Flieger timepieces. At least when it comes to the original style of watch. Think elegant, cream dials or beautifully streamlined chronographs with ornate numerals. Kind of what we’ve come to expect from German-made pilots watches.

More recently however, Zeppelin have introduced a watch that you might well have seen, if you have a penchant for pilots’ pieces. Distinctly modern in name and conception, the Eurofighter Typhoon is a completely different beast. Named after the incredible fighter jet, it’s the kind of performance-slanted, uber-technical timepiece you’d expect in a cockpit worth a few million pounds. As a counterpoint to Zeppelin’s original line, it’s bang on. That’s especially true of the full lume dial of the upper-end limited edition model, the Zeppelin Eurofighter Typhoon 7218-5, which not only looks like a watch many times its just-over-£1,500 price tag, but includes an ETA movement to back it up.

There’s no debating that that’s a lot of watch for the money – and in fact, with that kind of price, you might be expecting a downside. If that’s the case, you’ll be disappointed as there isn’t one. If you’re wondering just how POINTtec can keep things so light on the purse strings, it’s just economy of scale.

Image credit: Kaminsky Blog

POINTtec cut their teeth making watches for other brands and it’s something they continue to do today. Audi watches for example. It means that, while you might not see a flood of Zeppelin watches on the market, POINTtec are the biggest watchmaker in Germany, producing over 180,000 pieces a year, all while (as of two years ago) owning the Ruhler factory at which their watches are build. At that level, they can purchase movements and materials at a steep discount and pass that on to the consumer.

It’s why you can’t really find a watch quite like a Zeppelin. On the one hand, they’re full of character and quality in equal measure; on the other, they offer supremely tempting prices. It’s the kind of ‘best of both worlds’ approach you rarely see in watches. Sometimes size isn’t everything, but occasionally, it helps – especially if you’re after a pilots’ watch that flies well above its weight class.

More details at POINTtec.