|
It
has taken more than a decade to gather the facts related to the
development of the first digital wristwatch. We will concentrate on the
development of the watch and not debate what has already been
historically documented. These accounts are the most accurate to date of
�Who invented the Digital watch�. In the event that additional facts
come to light, we will make updates. We do not claim these accounts to
be 100% complete, but that they are historically correct, and that we
possess the documentation to back up these events. No
portions of this article may be reproduced without permission.
�The
World�s First Digital LED
Watch�
. . . . That�s quite an honor for anyone to claim, especially when it
was the first new way to tell time in 500 years. Henry
B. Fried considered
the digital watch as
" the most dramatic step forward since the invention of the hairspring
in 1675 ".
Only two companies,
and a handful of people, can be recognized for this invention. Over the
years there have been several people who have falsely claimed to be the
inventor. But only
The Hamilton
Watch Co.
and
Electro/Data,
Inc.
can take credit for this milestone in horology.
Both companies
contributed to the development of the first digital watch. Some sway to
one side or the other, but the evidence proves this project was a team
effort. No one person, or company, can claim to be the sole inventor.
History does have it right, it was a joint effort!
Because the first
prototype was basically assembled at the Electro/Data facility in
Garland
Texas, we will refer to the first tangible development as the
�E/D
Prototype� a.k.a., �The Mystery Watch�.
(The contributions and claims from the
Hamilton
side will be covered in another section of this website.)
George
H. Thiess:
founded
Electro/Data, Inc. in May of 1966. Thiess was born in St. Louis, and was an A.F. veteran of the Korean War.
He earned a B.S. degree in
Physics Engineering in 1958. Thiess spent three years at Texas Instruments, and three more at Microwave Physics Corporation, before leaving to start his own
instrument company. A former engineer that worked at Electro/Data
described Thiess as a �visionary� with incredible ambition and
foresight. A 1970 article in a local jeweler�s magazine, which first
reported on the �Mystery Watch� in 1968, listed some of Thiess�
visions. One vision was the need for �an all electric car that could
go 60 mph and not need a charge for 240 miles� . . . can you say Tesla.
Another vision came from wearing a $10.95 Timex which made Thiess
realize the need for
�a more accurate watch�.
Even after Thiess was
ousted from Electro/Data, he started Electro Research, Inc. in
August of 1971. They made three clock models, a desk, a wall, and a
floor clock. He later founded Chronex
Watch Corporation
in July of 1973. Chronex was to make LED digital
watches, and offer the watch industry with training to service digital
watches. From a small boy, Thiess was interested in electronics, so
it�s no surprise that he had a big hand in developing the first
digital watch.
In 1979, you would
find Thiess at Electric Motor Cars, Inc. where he, and partner Jack
Hooker, invented that electric car Thiess envisioned back in the 60�s.
Their prototype ran on sea water by converting the water into magnesium
used to charge the batteries. This seemed to be another promising
vision, but unfortunately, it ended in 1986 without any notable
recognition.
Willie
Crabtree:
Earned both a BSEE & MSEE.
He
started his career at Bell Laboratories before being hired by Texas
Instruments in 1957. After twelve years at TI, he joined Electro/Data as
a project engineer and worked on the digital watch for the next four
years. After he completed his work on the prototype clock in 1969,
Crabtree worked with engineers at
Hamilton
to develop the first prototype digital watch. He was instrumental in the
development of the initial
44-IC module.
Crabtree headed the
digital watch department at Electro/Data after George Thiess was removed
and again was crucial in finishing the 491
25-IC modules
under
contract with Hamilton.
When E/D folded,
Crabtree moved over to American Time which was a surviving division of
E/D that had been privately purchased and run by James Short. Mr. Short
was the last CEO at Electro/Data. Crabtree eventually went back to Texas
Instruments and worked for seven years before he retired in 1991.
Electro/Data History:
The Company was founded in 1966 and went public in June of 1969.
The
8,800 sq. ft. facility was located at 1621 Jupiter Road
in Garland,
Texas. Electro/Data was a
scientifically oriented research, development and production company of
solid state microwave components and subsystems. One of Electro/Data�s
early projects was research & development on an instrument to
measure the universe.
In early 1968 Thiess had put together
several prototype clocks as
research to develop his watch. This project is what was written about in
July of 1968. This was the first published article about Electro/Data's
efforts to develop a digital watch. In April of 1969, Thiess recruited
engineer Willie Crabtree to help develop that �more accurate watch�
(the Mystery Watch).
By the fall of 1969, Electro/Data had developed a prototype clock with
an LED dot-matrix display. The prototype was made from
�off-the-shelf�
components, said Thiess. One of the key components
was the
HP 5082-7000
numerical display.
At the onset, only 6 employees, of the 30 total, worked on the project.
On December 1st,
1969, Electro/Data entered into a contract with Hamilton Watch Co. to
market the Electro/Data watches. This contract would evolve into
an agreement to jointly develop the world�s first digital watch.
Hamilton
had also developed a digital clock and was looking to reduce it down to
a wristwatch.
Hamilton
realized Electro/Data was already better equipped, and experienced, in
the field of microelectronics. In the 1969/1970 winter, a large scale breadboard
for a digital watch was completed. The first solid state module reduced
down to a size that could fit into a watchcase was the
44-IC module.
The stainless steel case was designed by an Electro/Data employee, Benny
Hoper, who was E/D's technical designer. The cases were made by a
local machine shop in Richardson, Texas. This was the same design
for the three cases that Electro/Data delivered to Hamilton for the May
6th press conference. The first prototype watch housing the 44-IC module
was first seen
on the Johnny Carson Show on May 5th, 1970. Only six
such watches were made, with one remaining at Electro/Data. The lone
watch not delivered to Hamilton did not have the Hamilton engraving. Reliability problems with the
44-IC module
forced the development of a second generation,
25-IC module,
which was far less complex. This was the electronic module which was
eventually delivered to Hamilton
for the Pulsar. Unfortunately, the
25-IC module
was also failing
within months of the first Pulsars sold to the public.
Hamilton was forced to improvise using their own electronic module they
had secretly developed. Fortunately, it was already finished in
time to rescue the Pulsar. The fact that Hamilton could recall the
watches already sold, and retrofit those that hadn't, without publicity,
probably changed the history of the LED digital watch industry. One can
only image how this would have been used against the digital watch by
the analog watch industry. There was already much talk about what
the digital watch could do to the watch industry. Fear was an understatement,
and this would have been just the type of fuel they needed to stop the
digital watch in its tracks.
Substantial growth at Electro Data, along with many lucrative contracts
in the microwave division, made the company very profitable.
Electro/Data�s other profitable division, American Time, made
time/temperature clocks and signs for the commercial market. In an
effort to make Electro/Data more attractive to investors, Electro/Data
acquired Care Electronics and merged in October of 1971. Care was
a company located in
Huntsville
,
Alabama
, founded by Peter D. Petroff. At that time, Care was developing
electronic heart monitoring and other medical equipment. Petroff
's company was deeply in debt, but the Board of Directors felt that Care
could become profitable. They were so convinced that the Board of
Directors at Electro/Data voted Peter Petroff the new CEO. For
this reason, George Thiess left the company in August of 1971? Willie
Crabtree would remain as the chief engineer in charge of the watch
project.
After several months of heavy losses, and realizing their mistakes,
in March of 1972, the Directors replaced Petroff with James D. Short.
Mr. Petroff would revert back to be the president of the Care subsidiary
(still located in
Alabama
). In a 1973 newspaper article, Short said �Care
turned out to be a lemon� and
�management changes
resulting from the merge set a coarse that couldn�t be corrected in
time�.
Unfortunately, the large debts from Care absorbed the Electro/Data
assets, and their creditors forced them into bankruptcy on
April 12, 1973
.
Commentary:
What�s
amazing is that George Thiess, the very man who founded the company,
wasn�t there when the joint efforts with Hamilton
came to fruition. Thiess was making plans to start his own clock company
when the Pulsar was offered to the public in April of 1972. How could
this happen? Maybe it was that Thiess didn�t fit the corporate mold?
In a May 1970 article,
�The Mystery Watch Revealed�, the editor (who
interviewed Thiess at Electro/Data) described him as outspoken and
non-political. In the corporate world, that demeanor doesn�t set well
with the Board Room. Possibly it was because Petroff came from NASA, and
the board felt his prestige was better suited for the company. One can
only imagine the animosity Thiess must have had about the events that
took place at Electro/Data.
It seems Thiess fell
victim to his own success by building a company that was profitable.
His
decision to go public, and sell stocks to help fund his visions, allowed
outsiders to make decisions that Thiess probably would not have made on his own.
Had Thiess continued on as CEO, and there was no merger with Care
Electronics, the history of the digital watch may have been written
differently. If Thiess had the funds and resources that
Hamilton
enjoyed, he likely could have shared much of the success that history
has given Hamilton.
In retrospect, when
Thiess conceived his vision, he never documented it. Even when a 1968
magazine article mentioned Thiess was working on a �Mystery Watch�,
Thiess still didn�t protect his vision. Had Electro/Data continued
without teaming up with Hamilton, there would have been many legal issues to overcome.
Much of the
circuitry for a digital watch had already been filed for at the U.S.
Patent Office by Hamilton
in 1968. There were many other patents as well that would have prevented
Electro/Data from solely claiming the invention. In fact, Electro/Data
was somewhat at the mercy of
Hamilton
due to infringement laws.
Peter
D. Petroff: In
2003, there was a news article from the Associated Press that went out
world-wide after the death of Peter Petroff. After reading the
ridiculous claim that Peter D. Petroff
�invented the Digital
watch�, we
naturally contacted the author. In an email, we were told that the
obituary was submitted by the family. We asked if the claims being made
were checked for accuracy. We were told, "we just took
the family for their word". For those that don't know, Obituaries (
notices of death) are submitted and paid for by the family. A family
member can provide fabricated information without verification. Because
the claims made in the obituary are not true, any publication using such
reference can also be deemed untrue. The obituary is the only reference
that can be used because Peter Petroff did not "
invent the digital watch".
There simply are no records on this planet that support the claim made
in the Peter Petroff obituary -- other than the obituary itself.
If only the AP would have checked the facts, they would have found a
well documented timeline that refutes the claim. The first digital watch
had already been patented and introduced almost two years before Peter
D. Petroff entered the picture. The
truth is, Peter Petroff did not "devise",
"develop", or "invent" the digital watch.
Petroff's involvement with Electro/Data
was long after and short lived, only seven months. Before the
Pulsar went to market, Petroff had already been replaced. So
another claim that Petroff "brought
to market the first digital watch"
also can not be true.
Because of the lack of diligence for such an important part of our
history, the internet is littered with inaccurate information about
Petroff and the digital watch. This also led to the claim that Peter
Petroff was a "Prolific inventor". We did our own patent
search and found five patents filed by Peter D. Petroff.
Ironically, all five patents were for measuring the flow of sewer
waist . . . . we're not kidding. These five patents are all
basically the same patent. The last four patents are just modifications
of the first patent, filed in 1978. So we have to ask, is one
patent "prolific", we don't think so. There were many other
claims made in the obituary but we found no other patents. None for a
watch, none for heart rate monitoring, and nothing related to NASA
technology -- all we found is the sewer waist meter. We've provided a
link below for you to see for yourself.
http://www.patentgenius.com/inventedby/PetroffPeterDHuntsvilleAL.html
Our Google search revealed two articles (links below) from people Peter
Petroff worked with in the past. We found them to be entertaining as
well. As you will read, they too were not happy about the claims.
Obviously Peter D. Petroff wasn't the "inventor
of the digital watch"
and when you read
these accounts, there seems to be more evidence to question some other
Petroff claims. We spoke to other Electro-Data engineers that had
similar sentiments about Peter D. Petroff. One engineer told us that
Petroff spent most of his time at Care Electronics in Alabama and very
little time at the Electro/Data Texas facility. He said he rarely saw
Peter before Petroff was let go.
http://www.sonorannews.com/archives/2008/2008-08/080806/myview.html
http://www.sonorannews.com/archives/2008/2008-08/080813/letters2e.html#letter2
Bottom
line: It would be
absurd for anyone to historically credit Peter Petroff with this
invention -- in any sense. A simple visit to the Smithsonian
website, or researching any of the many books written over the
past forty or so years, would grossly refute this claim. We have had
this information for several years, but have held back out of respect
for the passing of Mr. Petroff. Due to the persistent effort from
some to bring forth these false claims, we feel we had no choice but to
take a more aggressive approach by including the facts on this website.
Please understand, it wasn't our idea to try and change history.
"
if it isn't fact . . . it's fiction "
Please
direct any questions here
Back
to History
Copyright
2010, www.oldpulsars.com
No
portions of this article may be reproduced without permission.
|
Back
to History
