Heinz W. Pfeifer is not ‘everybody’s darling’. Most of the time he seems to be a grumbler, not more charming than necessary, easily angered and sometimes he doesn’t treat his employees very respectfully.

But for the people of Glashütte, a small town in Saxony in the southern part of the former GRD (Eastern Germany), he’s a hero.

Pfeifer is one of many business people who came to the ‘new’ part of our country after Germany’s reunification. Many came for a short while in order to try to make a lot of money, misusing the fact that East Germans had no idea of how capitalism is practised, promising jobs and prosperity to them and then leaving. But Heinz W. Pfeifer was different – he stayed. He made promises too.

The labourers of Glashütte, however, did not trust the man from Bavaria. To them he was only one of several ‘investors’ who had tried to rescue their watch factory that was once the most important local employer and was now in trouble. After the reunification they were not prepared to compete with the tough world market and with every new owner the situation only worsened.

Pfeifer, the new boss, took over the company in 1994. He promised to make it what it had been 60 years ago - before parts of the town were destroyed in World War II, before the clock and watch companies had been converted to a ‘VEB’ (DDR/GRD-state owned company) during the communist regime and when the Glashütte watch industry was world famous for its high quality products.

In a speech before the few women and men of the former VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe who remained from the more than 2000 employees of the mid 90s, Pfeifer explained his visions of a luxury watch factory that would make wristwatches worth more than 100,000 German marks (51,100 euros).

“When I talked to some of my employees much later, I discovered that they had thought I was totally crazy,” he admits.

However, everyone was willing to give his best because there was no other option and Pfeiffer’s audacious ideas were their last hope of not joining the unemployed like so many of their colleagues before them.

The ‘new-old’ company has the right to use the name of every former Glashütte watch brand and Pfeifer choose the name ‘Glashütte Original’.

In November 1995, after only one year of valiant efforts the brand and its employees proved that the old skills of fine watchmaking still existed: Glashütte Original presented the Julius Assmann Tourbillon with a perpetual Calendar at a price of 290,000 marks (148,274 euros).

“It was a hard road up to this point,” Pfeifer says looking back. “But with this watch we could convince even the most critical journalists of our ability and from that point on, the name Glashütte Original was mentioned together with the best Swiss watch brands.”

But maybe more important, the company’s employees, who had had to work on low priced mass watches for many years, re-found their self-confidence. They were even a little astonished at their own skills and what they had achieved by re-establishing a reputation for their brand, something they had never expected. In 2000, Pfeifer sold Glashütte Original to the Swatch Group, which opened the international distribution door for the brand and provided additional money. In addition, many of its suppliers were owned by the Group.

“We had to decide,” Pfeifer explains, “either to remain a successful regional watch brand or to hit the road and become a global player.”

Heinz W. Pfeifer became a Member of the Board of the Swatch Group and from that moment, his departure was only a matter of time. But like a true entrepreneur, he never leaves a project unfinished.

Around two years ago, the re-construction and renovation of the huge, ugly and sinister factory building began. Today, in complete contrast to before, it has become a modern, light and airy building. Many walls of the production facilities have been replaced with large windows enabling one to observe the technicians and watchmakers at work and in the near future, there will be guided tours twice a day.

The inauguration of the renovated building took place in September 2003. In an emotional speech to the 300 or so guests, Heinz W. Pfeifer, sometimes hardly able to hold back his tears, summarized the past nine years. He spoke of the difficulties and the townspeople of whom he had grown very fond over the years.

Early this year, Heinz W. Pfeifer stepped back from leading the Glashütte Original company, which today has some 240 employees. He’s heading for Switzerland in order to take over more responsibility within the management of the Swatch Group.

A hero has left … but he kept his promises.

Source: Europa Star February - March 2004 Magazine Issue