A sweeping view across the mountains, a visit to the Eiffel Tower or a day out together at a visitor attraction: since 1926, Euroscope has been part of people’s experiences at memorable places. The company’s story is therefore also one of tourism partnerships, personal encounters and working relationships that have grown into friendships over the years.
It All Began with a View into the Distance
When Friedrich Winkels founded Automaten Winkels in Starnberg in 1926, it all began with coin-operated telescopes. He had acquired the equipment following the insolvency of his former employer, Graphoskop. These telescopes allowed visitors to take a closer look at landscapes and discover details invisible to the naked eye.
This established a connection with tourism that continues to shape the company today. Whether at a viewpoint, on a mountain or at a famous landmark, the experience of the people visiting that place remains central.
New products were added over the decades. Today, alongside enjoying the view through a telescope, visitors can take home a keepsake: a coin they have pressed themselves, a MEMODAILLE® or a souvenir banknote featuring a design inspired by their destination.
Behind Every Attraction Are People
Visitor attractions come to life through the people who shape and run them. They know their attraction’s history, what makes their location special and what their guests are looking for. To Euroscope, they are therefore much more than contacts for installing a machine.
Ideas emerge through personal conversations: where is the best view? Which design represents the place? Which products would appeal to visitors? The answers often develop over many discussions and shared experiences.
This is why personal contact is part of the company’s culture. Successive managing directors have come to know many partners personally and maintained regular contact with them. This approach to working together connects the different chapters of the company’s history: knowing one another, listening and keeping the conversation going.
When Working Together Becomes Friendship
This is particularly evident in longstanding partnerships with family businesses in Austria, such as those at the Pfänder. When people work together over many years, they also experience change together: new generations take on responsibility, visitor offerings evolve and initial ideas become joint projects.
Over time, more than business trust develops. Regular visits and conversations create personal connections – and sometimes friendships that extend beyond everyday working life.
These relationships are an important part of Euroscope’s story. They represent continuity and the shared experience of finding solutions as requirements change.
From the Pfänder to the Eiffel Tower
The tourist destinations Euroscope works with are diverse. A mountain destination in Austria offers a different visitor experience from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Yet both share a special significance for the people who visit them: they are travel destinations, places for shared experiences and part of personal memories.
Euroscope has been working with the Eiffel Tower in Paris since 1994 – a partnership spanning more than 30 years. It demonstrates how enduring the relationship between a landmark and a company contributing to its visitor experience can become.
By establishing subsidiaries in Austria, the Netherlands and France during the 1980s, Euroscope moved closer to its European partners. International growth also meant being available locally and gaining a better understanding of each country and location.
New Ideas for Lasting Memories
The expectations of visitors and operators change. Products and services need to be easy to understand, equipment must work reliably, and souvenirs should reflect the place they represent. Euroscope therefore continues to develop its range and technology in dialogue with its partners.
Telescopes and souvenirs share a common purpose: they create a connection with the place being visited. A telescope draws attention to the landscape and its details. A souvenir captures a chosen image and accompanies visitors home.
Technological developments support this purpose. Sales and equipment status data now help provide an overview of operations and identify servicing needs early. They offer practical information that complements personal conversations with the people responsible on site.
100 Years – and Many Shared Stories
The Winkels family shaped the company over three generations. A new chapter began in 2023, when Jochen Winkels and Bettina Bähr handed over the business and Urs Weingart took over as Managing Director.
As Euroscope celebrates its centenary in 2026, it looks back on more than its own development. Its history also includes the stories of the partners who have accompanied the company over many years and the personal relationships that have grown along the way.
What began with coin-operated telescopes now connects tourist destinations across many parts of Europe. What remains is the personal attention given to each location – and to the people who make it special.