Elmar Mock

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Elmar Mock (2017)

Elmar Mock (born February 2, 1954 in La Chaux-de-Fonds , Switzerland ) is a trained Swiss watchmaker engineer with specialist knowledge in polymers , an industrial designer and inventor .

biography

Elmar Mock studied as a microtechnology engineer at the Technical University of Biel . He was hired by ETA Manufacture Horlogère . He completed a one-year follow-up training course on plastics in Aarau , financed by his employer , as he worked for the company for another two years.

Elmar Mock is with Jacques Mueller , co-inventor of the SWATCH clock under the direction of Ernst Thomke in the early 1980s. This invention revolutionized the Swiss watch industry. Mock and Mueller came up with the idea of ​​making clocks out of plastic. The classic Swiss watch required between 90 and 125 parts - the SWATCH only has 55. The movement is integrated into the watch case, the watch strap is made of polyurethane , everything is assembled in one block, and the ultrasonic welding technology developed by Mock welds the plexiglass to the watch case and makes it resilient and waterproof - but also irreparable.

In the first year, 500,000 watches were sold at a price between 39.90 and 49.90 Swiss francs , with production costs of 5 Swiss francs. More than 700 million SWATCH watches had been sold worldwide by 2018. Mock then worked on the ROCKWATCH watch for the watch brand Tissot , which has the unmistakable characteristic of having a dial made of granite from the Swiss Alps; each watch is actually unique.

Mock then left watchmaking and founded his own engineering office for innovation / creativity and product development under the name Createc in Biel in 1986 . This company later became Creaholic. In 2018 the company employed 55 people. Swisscom has a 5% stake in Creaholic. Creaholic works on projects for IKEA, Leica, Lufthansa and BMW.

Mock is co-inventor of more than 180 patent families in various industries such as the watch, automotive, food and pharmaceutical industries and has launched 750 projects and 8 startups. He is considered a veteran of Swiss innovation. In 2008 he joined the “Forum of 100 Personalities in Western Switzerland”, which was compiled every year by the Swiss monthly “l'Hebdo”. In 2017 he was a finalist from a pool of 400 candidates for the European Inventor of the Year Award in the Lifetime Achievement category of the European Patent Organization . According to Benoît Battistelli , Ex-President of the EPO, “Mock is an inventor who repeatedly questions the status quo. By breaking with convention, he wasn't just giving the world a cult object. He also built a successful company that is all about inventions ”. In 2019 he was named one of the leading experts evaluating proposals for this award.

Prizes and awards

  • 2010: Prix ​​Gaïa with Jacques Mueller
  • 2017: Finalist for the European Inventor of the Year Award in the category - Lifetime Achievement

Works

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Development: "It was grueling monster work". In: Balance. April 12, 2013, accessed July 31, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Christine Talos: La Swatch souffle ses 30 bougies. In: Bilan. February 26, 2016, accessed July 31, 2019 (French).
  3. ↑ Inventor Elmar Mock: Thanks to him there is the Swatch watch - TV. In: SRF. July 16, 2018, accessed July 31, 2019 .
  4. ^ Philippe Testard-Vaillant: Elmar Mock: la tête dans les rouages. In: Liberation. June 13, 1995, accessed July 31, 2019 (French).
  5. ↑ Le mythe des origines. In: Domaine Public Nº1647. May 27, 2005, accessed July 31, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Jürg Ackermann: A dyslexic in the fast lane. In: Lucerne newspaper. June 13, 2018, accessed July 31, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Markus Knöpfli: The Telko participates in Creaholic and creates an "innovation house" in Biel. In: horizon. March 8, 2017, accessed January 13, 2020 .
  8. ↑ a b Lifebuoy on the wrist. In: Balance. January 5, 2018, accessed July 31, 2019 .
  9. ^ European Patent Office: Elmar Mock (Switzerland). Accessed July 31, 2019 .
  10. ^ Forum des 100 - 2008. Accessed July 31, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Gabriel Knupfer: Great honor for the inventor of the Swatch. Handelszeitung, April 26, 2017, accessed on July 31, 2019 .
  12. ↑ a b Swiss engineer Elmar Mock nominated as a finalist for the European Inventor Award 2017. In: European Patent Office. Accessed July 31, 2019 .
  13. ^ European Patent Office: European Inventor Award: The Jury. Accessed July 31, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Les pères de la Swatch à l'honneur. In: Journal du Jura. September 28, 2010, accessed July 31, 2019 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Mock, Elmar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss watchmaker engineer
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH La Chaux-de-Fonds , Switzerland