Originally founded in Berlin by Carl Bamberg in 1871. AskAnia made a name for itself producing high precision nautical, geodetic, geomagnetic and astronomical instruments for the Imperial German Navy. Timeballs were created in 1874 for the port of Cuxhaven and in 1876 for the port of Hamburg for the purpose of synchronizing ships’ deck watches and chronometers.
The peak of AskAnia’s success lied between the two World Wars. After a merger with Zentral-Werkstatt fur Gasgerate GmbH in 1921 leading to the formation of AskAnia-Werk AG. Following the merger AskAnia became the most important German Company for aviation and navigation instruments. AskAnia worked with companies such as Junker, Zepplin, Dornier, Messerschmidt, Bucher and Siemens & Halske to name a few.
From the 1920’s, the company also built film projectors, stereoscopic cameras and cine’ cameras, which were used for making the UFA films “The Blue Angel” with Marlene Dietrich and “Quax, the pilot” with Heinz Ruhmann or Leni Riefenstahl,s “The White Hell of Pitz Palu”. In 1935 AskAnia developed the world’s first shoulder mounted camera and introduced it during the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. AskAnia timing instruments and cine, cameras were used to records the games. on board instruments, pilots watches and night-flight instruments helped aviation pioneers as Ehren-fried Gunther Freiherr von Hunefeld on his first Atlantic crossing or Elly Beinhorn when she set up her long-distance flight records. AskAnia instruments were installed in numerous areophane’s, including Lufthansa planes. From 1920-1940 there was hardly a plane without AskAnia instruments. They performed reliably in any weather, in any situation and at any time day or night. AskAnia was disbanded after World War II due to the separation of Germany and Berlin to the Allied Powers having factories in all sectors.
In 2004 with a love for pilot watches a new beginning was created by Chaiman of the Board Leonhard Muller becoming Berlins only watch manufacturer. Muller introduced series production of the models with the traditional AskAnia look again. He followed this up by opening two shops in Berlin with small museums, where he exhibited and sold vintage and new AskAnia products. AskAnia has a three person team at Ku’damm 170 creating the complete design with the ideas and specifications that are the AskAnia DNA-Very Berlin- coupled with all of their various technical possibilities from production in regard to the aspects of the watch.
A little more about the Chairman of the Board Leonhard Muller:
The initiator and the realizer of the bold plan to revive the traditional Berlin Brand AskAnia and turn it into a fine and well-respected name for high-quality craftsmanship. He came from the Gold and watchmaking town of Pforzheim and spent part of his life in the watch industry in Switzerland. Today, as Chaiman of the Board, he embodies like no other the rebirth of AskAnia AG in Berlin.
