Independents

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A profile of Wilhelm Rieber, tourbillon maker from the Black Forest

Unusually for an independent watchmaker, especially one who makes a tourbillion wristwatch, Wilhelm Rieber keeps a very low profile. I first came across Wilhelm Rieber’s tourbillion when I saw a press release from Maybach announcing the Maybach tourbillion wristwatch available to owners of the car. The Maybach, by the way, is Mercedes Benz’s response to Rolls-Royce, an incredibly opulent car available in two sizes: big and enormous, which are 5.7 and 6.2 m respectively in length.

Maybach 62

Maybach Tourbillon  

Fortunately, Wilhelm was in Singapore late last year to deliver a watch to a customer here, I was fortunate enough to meet him and examine his tourbillion.

Wilhelm has been a watchmaker since 1977, having learnt the craft at a watchmaking school in Furtwangen in the Black Forest. He started work on his first tourbillion, a key-wound pocket watch, in 1984 and completed it four years later. Wilhelm fabricated almost all the parts of the pocket watch movement, including the balance wheel and hairspring.

He finished the first wristwatch tourbillion in 1996 and today he continues to make that, and only that. The tourbillion is available in several case and dial variations according to customer request – several customers have ordered watches with initials or names on the dial – but the movement is the same flying tourbillion calibre. Wilhelm has been doing what he likes for a long time and shows no inclination to do anything else. When asked if he has any plans to introduce another model or modify the current movement, the answer is “Never.”

Nearly all the components of the movement are made by Wilhelm – he works along – at his workshop in Tiefenbronn-Mulhausen near the watchmaking city of Pforzheim. He obtains the hairspring, balance wheel, some screws and wheels from specialists, but makes everything else himself. External components, dial, case, crown, strap and buckle are also outsourced, but the hands of the watch are cut and finished by hand.

Hand-made hands 

Appropriately the movement features a German silver bridge and base plate, as well as jewels set in screwed, gold chatons. It is also engraved with the serial number, year of production, as well as the customer’s country if desired. According to Wilhelm, the balance wheel of the tourbillion is the largest used in a tourbillion where the hands and balance are on separate axes; Beat Haldimann’s tourbillion is larger but the balance and hands are co-axial.

Aside from making his tourbillion, Wilhelm also restores vintage timepieces. Uncommonly, Wilhelm does his press photography in-house; he took all the pictures on the press CD. Wilhelm’s wife is a talented calligrapher and she is responsible for the certificate that accompanies each watch. This is in-house taken to the extreme.

Wilhelm Rieber Tourbillon 

The resulting tourbillion watch is reflective of its creation. It is neither slick nor well packaged, but it has charm, displaying a measure of care and craft that is lacking in many of the famous independent watchmakers. This watch feels like a very honest product; there is no pretence, no pretension. In fact, comparing the Maybach tourbillion, which was designed in collaboration with Maybach, and Wilhelm’s own wristwatches, exhibits the difference clearly. The Maybach watch is the product of a company, a watch backed up a corporate idea, while Wilhelm’s watch is clearly his own.

Maybach Tourbillon 

Majority of his clients are in Germany and aside from the advertising done by Maybach, nearly all are introduced to his product via word of mouth. Besides Maybach owners, Wilhelm’s clients include some famous personalities including an F1 driver who is a known collector of watches. Wilhelm reminds me of independent watchmaker 10 years ago, when even the superstars of today were barely known outside a small circle and they were hardly talked about, even on the internet. Although Wilhelm is adamant that he will continue to make only the wristwatch tourbillion, I hope to see his work develop over time.