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Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

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RaWatch

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Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post12 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.?
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Re: Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post12 Feb 2006, 23:36

Very interesting article, thanks a lot for taking the time to share this with us. Unfortunately it does not mention if there was a working prototype. I do not know much about engineering and production processes, but in this article the Synchronar is described like the final product we know. Dont know much, but I think that when you have a price and already researched the market about how many you will sell a year then the "Proof of concept" prototype should already be complete. I can only tell for myself, but I would not research stuff and calculate final prices until I have a working prototype. For me this could be a clue that the invention and design processes were already completed at this moment. Too bad that the article does not mention more.
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Re: Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post13 Feb 2006, 00:21

The article was accompanied by two small photographs. One of Mr. Riehl and the other of a watch. Unfortunatley, the copy of have of the article is so poor that neither of these would reproduce if I scanned it.
There is also a February 1971 newspaper article about the Synchronar. I do not have it but it might shed more light on the early history.
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dot matrix

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Re: Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post13 Feb 2006, 00:56

Roger told me in multiple telephone conversations that he had a working prototype as early as the late 1960s.
Last edited by dot matrix on 25 Jul 2013, 04:34, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post13 Feb 2006, 01:24

See my posting from Feb 12 under "Synchronar Patent." The March 1968 watch was clearly not a "Synchronar" design.

Mr. Riehl wrote, ".....The first SYNCHRONAR was then constructed as a complete product in May 1972.....Thus the first finished SYNCHRONAR was shown to the public in July, 1972." (Note: at the New York jewelry show). "...The first buyer ws Hamacher Schlemmer of New York..."
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Re: Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post13 Feb 2006, 01:33

Thank You RaWatch, unfortunatly I have the same poor Quality
copy but if you look close the watch displays the time on his wrist at 12:45.
Good news is I have an original newspaper print for the Feb,11-1971
article that shows a nice clear look at the time lit at 11:47. As I explained to you a few months back the Photo of him and his watch dates to 1969 or early 70 and that he actualy had a better prototype than the one in these 2 articles but was reluctant to tell too much including the name of the watch wich he coined some time prior to the article. His Riehl Electronics corp. 1970 annual report mentions the name to the stockholders or who ever happened to read it back then. BTW I thought the shoortened version of his writing about his early work was great and should be fine until I get a chance to post the whole story someday.
I think I need to take my scans on disc back and tell them to start over with the right size image to upload. Howard
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Re: Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post19 Jun 2006, 15:50

RaWatch wrote:There is also a February 1971 newspaper article about the Synchronar. I do not have it but it might shed more light on the early history.

Thanks to Synchroserious for sending me a scan of the 1971 article a while back. You can find it here.
Image
Last edited by dot matrix on 18 Jan 2019, 21:41, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post20 Jun 2006, 05:49

Thanks for the reprint. I was having NO luck with the newspaper in getting a copy of the article. An interesting addition to the history of the Synchronar. But it raises other questions. Which watch is displayed in the photo? When was it made? Is it, in fact, the first digital watch ever constructed?
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Re: Text of January 1971 Newspaper Article

Post20 Jun 2006, 16:55

I'm assuming it's one of Roger's early prototypes.
LED watches are quiet and polite. No ticking, no tocking, no beeping, no buzzing; they will only tell you the time when you ask to see it and they will do so instantly with no attention-seeking animations. A more civilized watch for a more civilized age.

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