Josef Pallweber

Josef Pallweber was an Austrian engineer . He is considered to be the inventor of the first digital watches .

Life

Cortébert watch based on the Pallweber principle

The mastermind reported in 1883 in Salzburg , the patent on watches with jumping digits (Jump Hour) and awarded several licenses to it. First, Cortébert Watch Co. issued a Pallweber watch and then the International Watch Company (IWC), which was launched in 1885 with a digital watch. The innovative pocket watches, which were based on Josef Pallweber's patent license, were popularly referred to as the Pallweber watch after their inventor, according to IWC. Instead of the usual dial, the clocks had two openings in a white, black or gold-plated enamel dial, in which the hours and minutes were displayed with jump numbers based on Josef Pallweber's model. Only the seconds display was reminiscent of conventional clocks.

The new style, combined with technical innovation , led IWC to produce 20,000 pieces of the valuable pocket watches. After the successful episode, which contributed to the fact that the IWC established itself as a serious brand at the beginning of the 20th century (with 183 employees and sales of 231,000), interest in Pallweber watches ebbed.

The trademark rights of the name "JOSEF PALLWEBER" were acquired in 2010 by a Swiss who has since been helping the invention of the digital time display with new watches to give it a new shine.

literature

• Fritz Osterhausen : The great watch lexicon . Heel, Königswinter 2005, ISBN 3-89880-430-5 .
• Manfred Fritz, Paulo Coelho, Enki Bilal : IWC Schaffhausen. Engineering time since 1868 . Benteli Verlag, Bern-Sulgen-Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-7165-1630-0 .
• Alex Kuhn : The jump number pocket watches . Edition Simonin, Neuchâtel - Switzerland 2010, ISBN 978-2-9700573-4-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Watch Wiki: Josef Pallweber , accessed on March 6, 2011.
2. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine : Return to Modernity , May 14, 2009.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Watch Wiki: Josef Pallweber , accessed on January 4, 2015.
4. ↑ IWC: A BIG DATE FOR THE PERPETUAL CALENDAR , accessed March 6, 2011.
5. ↑ Ebner Verlag: Die jump-number pocket watches  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   , Retrieved March 6, 2011.