[7][8] In 1972 he won the gold medal[9] in Poland at the most prestigious and oldest violin making competition named after Henryk Wieniawski.

Despite political difficulties he was able to teach Swedish luthiers[11] and successfully take part in the international violin making competition "Antonius Stradivari" in Cremona in 1982 and in the "Louis Spohr violin making competition" in Kassel in 1983, where he was the most successful participant from the Eastern Bloc with six prizes.

Star conductor Kurt Masur affirmed in a letter in 2005: Wilhelm Brückner's instruments "were always so valuable that they could be compared with old Italians.

[14][15] Customers were for example:[16] Hans-Christian Bartel, Hatto Beyerle, Oleg Kagan, Alfred Lipka, Tatjana Masurenko, Nils Mönkemeyer, Sophia Reuter,[17] André Rieu,[18] Matthias Sannemüller.

[2][15] Source: Menzel[6] p. 17 Exhibitions in United States (1978 San Diego, 1997 Austin), Italy (1979 Cremona), Great Britain (1995 London),[23] Netherlands (1998 Maastricht), Japan (1974 Tokyo), Poland (1981 Poznan), Canada (1981 Toronto), Austria (1992 Vienna, 2019 Salzburg) as well as in various German cities[24][25]