Soon in Geneva in January, the SIHH 2013. Which is largely thanks to one man. Flash back. In 1980, two companies had no idea what they would become. IWC and Jaeger LeCoultre. Their owners invited Günter Blümlein (Gaïa Prize 1996) to their bedside, first as a consultant and then, from 1982, as director. Under his leadership, IWC quickly regained its foothold with a series of wristwatches with innovative designs in keeping with the tradition of the Schaffhausen factory. Very quickly, the new director saw the return of mechanical watchmaking and the increasing value of complications. The launch of the Da Vinci model in 1985, the first automatic wristwatch with a perpetual calendar at an affordable price, was a visionary move. The renaissance of the Pilot collection did the rest. In addition to his involvement in Schaffhausen, in 1996 Günter Blümlein took over the leadership of Jaeger-LeCoultre, which he also revitalized. Three’s a crowd. After the Berlin Wall had fallen, Günter Blümlein orchestrated the revival of A. Lange & Söhne. Finally, in 1996, he succeeded in creating a powerful holding company, LMH Les Manufactures Horlogères. The amount of several billion paid by Richemont to acquire the three manufactures, testifies to the added value brought by Günter Blümlein. He will be in charge of coordinating the high-end activities of the watch segment within the acquiring group: IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Lange, Baume & Mercier, Officine Panerai, Piaget and Vacheron Constantin. Unfortunately, at the first light of October 2001, on the 1st of the month, he died at the age of 58.