Helmut Sinn

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Helmut Sinn

Helmut Sinn (born September 3, 1916 in Metz , Lorraine ; † February 14, 2018 ) was a German pilot, instrument and aerobatic instructor , aviation expert and entrepreneur . Sinn was considered an exceptional personality in the watch industry and was still entrepreneurial and inventive even in old age. He was also called "the fast Helmut".

Life

In 1939, shortly before the start of the war, Helmut Sinn obtained his pilot's license in the military and was obliged to do military service. He was in a reconnaissance squadron and crashed over Russian territory. He was badly wounded in the back and lost both little fingers. He was still active as a flight instructor, especially on the JU 52 and the JU 88 . After more than 15,000 take-offs in the 1990s, Sinn did not renew his own pilot's license.

After the end of the war he worked as a rally driver and was class winner in a Porsche-powered VW Beetle in the Raid Méditerranée-Le Cap between Algiers and Cape Town in 1953 . At that time he was already busy planning and building timing instruments for motorsport, in particular with rally car clocks. He also sold Sinn cuckoo clocks to US soldiers.

In 1961, Sinn founded the watch manufacturer Sinn Spezialuhren in Frankfurt-Rödelheim under his name and initially developed functional watches for pilots and flight instructors. He invented numerous technical innovations for his self-developed mechanical wristwatches , especially high-quality chronographs , which he sold to end customers under the brands Sinn Spezialuhren and Chronosport in what was then innovative direct sales . Sinn sold the company to a successor in 1994. He then founded the Jubilar-Uhren brand and from 1995 until his age-related retirement at the age of 98 in 2014 was the owner of the Swiss watch manufacturer Guinand , whose headquarters he relocated to Frankfurt-Rödelheim.

Helmut Sinn was briefly married twice and had three children. According to his wish, he was buried in the air .

bibliography

  • Jochen Hasmanis and Jan-Peter Hamann: Helmut Sinn Documentary Portrait - The Time Machine . Verlag medienatelier.tv, Frankfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-032245-7 .
  • Hans-Heinrich Schmid : Lexicon of the German watch industry 1850–1980. Company addresses, production program, company logos, brand names, company stories. 3rd expanded edition. Published by: German Society for Chronometrie eV, Nuremberg 2017, ISBN 978-3-941539-92-1 .
  • Gerd-Lothar Reschke: The time feel watch book. Self publication . Engelsdorfer Verlag, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-938607-61-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Thorsten Winter: Frankfurt watch pioneer Sinn died. In: FAZ , February 15, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c Sabine Börchers: A man who doesn't want to be a hero. In: FAZ , September 3, 2016. Accessed February 20, 2018.
  3. ↑ Obituary notice for Helmut Sinn. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Sense, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pilot and watch manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Metz , Lorraine
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 2018