12 Feb 2006, 08:27
?Inventor Selling Stock In Watch Run by Sun? ? Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, January 14, 1971 by Jim Good, Daily News Business Editor
Roger Riehl has a wristwatch he believes is unique. It has no moving parts, is powered by the sun and probably will sell for $1,700. To gain enough capital to produce it, Reihl Electron Corp. of Troy recently has begun sale of a public stock issue. Riehl, a self-taught engineer, hopes to be the first on the market with this concept of a watch, which does not even look like a conventional watch other than the fact that it straps on the wrist.
There are not visible numbers or hands. That?s because the top is used to gather solar power. The time is read on the device?s side. At the press of a button, the watch shows hours and minutes or minutes and seconds in digits like a scoreboard or a time-temperature sign. A few minutes in the sun will store enough energy to run the watch?s integrated circuits indefinitely, its inventor said.
?The unit has a power of the equivalent of 2,000 transistors,? he said. ?The watch is shock and vibration proof and will operate in from sub-freezing to boiling temperatures. The first units will sell for $1,700 and have a lifetime guarantee. We believe there is a market to sell 12,000 units a year at this price range.?
Riehl said he has been working on the watch for six years. Other work he has done locally includes the design of a navigational system and electronic scale for measuring liquor and a delicatessen scale for Hobart Manufacturing Co. He said he has also designed and built anti-skid brake computers for aircraft landing systems for B.F. Goodrich Co. As far as higher education goes, Riehl said he ?did it the hard way. I graduated from high school and that was it.?
Roger Riehl has a wristwatch he believes is unique. It has no moving parts, is powered by the sun and probably will sell for $1,700. To gain enough capital to produce it, Reihl Electron Corp. of Troy recently has begun sale of a public stock issue. Riehl, a self-taught engineer, hopes to be the first on the market with this concept of a watch, which does not even look like a conventional watch other than the fact that it straps on the wrist.
There are not visible numbers or hands. That?s because the top is used to gather solar power. The time is read on the device?s side. At the press of a button, the watch shows hours and minutes or minutes and seconds in digits like a scoreboard or a time-temperature sign. A few minutes in the sun will store enough energy to run the watch?s integrated circuits indefinitely, its inventor said.
?The unit has a power of the equivalent of 2,000 transistors,? he said. ?The watch is shock and vibration proof and will operate in from sub-freezing to boiling temperatures. The first units will sell for $1,700 and have a lifetime guarantee. We believe there is a market to sell 12,000 units a year at this price range.?
Riehl said he has been working on the watch for six years. Other work he has done locally includes the design of a navigational system and electronic scale for measuring liquor and a delicatessen scale for Hobart Manufacturing Co. He said he has also designed and built anti-skid brake computers for aircraft landing systems for B.F. Goodrich Co. As far as higher education goes, Riehl said he ?did it the hard way. I graduated from high school and that was it.?
