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John Harwood (watchmaker)
John Harwood (1893–1964) was a British watchmaker who invented a self-winding wristwatch. Early life Harwood was born in Bolton, Lancashire. During World War I he served as an armoury staff sergeant, developing an automatic pistol and a screwdriver whose blade turned on impact. Career After the war he served a watchmaking apprenticeship with Hirst Brothers and Co of Oldham. In 1922 he moved to the Isle of Man to set up his own watch repair business. In 1923, supported by a local businessman, he developed a self-winding wristwatch and applied for a patent in Switzerland, which was granted in September, 1924. His design ensured that the watch could be hermetically sealed against the ingress of water or dust. The hands could be reset by a rotating bezel. After four years, supported by funds from two Manchester brothers, Louis and Philip Alexander, he persuaded Swiss watch manufacturers Anton Schild S.A. and Walter Vogt of Fortis to manufacture the design. Blancpain also made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automatic Watch
An automatic watch, also known as a self-winding watch or simply an automatic, is a mechanical watch where the natural motion of the wearer provides energy to wind the mainspring, making manual winding unnecessary if worn enough. It is distinguished from a ''manual watch'' in that a manual watch must have its mainspring wound by hand at regular intervals. Operation In a mechanical watch the watch's gears are turned by a spiral spring called a mainspring. In a ''manual watch'', energy is stored in the mainspring by turning a knob, the ''crown'', on the side of the watch. Then the energy from the mainspring powers the watch movement until it runs down, requiring the spring to be wound again. A self-winding watch movement has a mechanism which winds the mainspring using the natural motions of the wearer's body. The watch contains an oscillating weight that turns on a pivot. The normal movements of the watch in the user's pocket (for a pocketwatch) or on the user's arm (for a wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blancpain
Blancpain SA () is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switzerland in 1735, Blancpain is the oldest registered watch brand in the world. Blancpain has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group since 1992, and is regarded as a top-tier watch brand. It is best known for its Fifty Fathoms diving watch introduced in 1953 (disputed claim ), and its 1735 Grand complication wristwatch, introduced in 1991. History Early history Jehan-Jacques Blancpain started making watches in 1735 in Villeret, Switzerland. He founded the Blancpain brand, setting up his first workshop on the upper floor of his house at Villeret, in the present-day Bernese Jura. This part of the history is disputed. According to Perezcope, there is no evidence that Jehan-Jacques Blancpain and the following two generations were wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Watchmakers (people)
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** British Isles, an island group ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** British Empire, a historical global colonial empire ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) * British Raj, colonial India under the British Empire * British Hong Kong, colonial H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People From Bolton
The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a people is any plurality of persons considered as a whole. Used in politics and law, the term "a people" refers to the collective or community of an ethnic group or nation. Concepts Legal Chapter One, Article One of the Charter of the United Nations states that "peoples" have the right to self-determination. Though the mere status as peoples and the right to self-determination, as for example in the case of Indigenous peoples (''peoples'', as in all groups of indigenous people, not merely all indigenous persons as in ''indigenous people''), does not automatically provide for independent sovereignty and therefore secession. Indeed, judge Ivor Jennings identified the inherent problems in the right of "peoples" to self-determination, as i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1964 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople meet in Jerusalem. * January 6 – A British firm, the Leyland Motor Corp., announces the sale of 450 buses to the Cuban government, challenging the United States blockade of Cuba. * January 9 – ''Martyrs' Day (Panama), Martyrs' Day'': Armed clashes between United States troops and Panamanian civilians in the Panama Canal Zone precipitate a major international crisis, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and 4 U.S. soldiers. * January 11 – United States Surgeon General Luther Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health (the first such statement from the U.S. government). * January 22 – Kenneth Kaunda is inaugurated as the first Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia. * January ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1893 Births
Events January * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * January 6 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress; the charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison. * January 13 ** The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom has its first meeting. ** U.S. Marines from the ''USS Boston'' land in Honolulu, Hawaii, to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution. * January 15 – The '' Telefon Hírmondó'' service starts with around 60 subscribers, in Budapest. * January 17 – Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii: Lorrin A. Thurston and the Citizen's Committee of Public Safety in Hawaii, with the intervention of the United States Marine Corps, overthrow the government of Queen Liliuokalani. * January 21 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Horological Institute
The British Horological Institute (BHI) is the representative body of the horology, horological industry in the United Kingdom. It was founded by a group of clockmakers in 1858, and has its current premises at Upton Hall, Nottinghamshire, Upton Hall in Nottinghamshire, which includes a museum of clock history. History The BHI was founded in 1858 by a small group of clockmakers, one of whom was Edward Daniel Johnson. Their aim was to unify the British horological industry and trades in the face of large numbers of imports of clocks and watches from abroad. The institute was an immediate success and within a year it had founded its own museum and library; it also began to offer evening classes in clock- and watch-making. The journal of the institute is the ''Horological Journal'', which has been published monthly since September 1858. It is claimed to be the oldest continuously published technical journal in the world. Upton Hall The current premises of the BHI are at Upton Hal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and business failures around the world. The economic contagion began in 1929 in the United States, the largest economy in the world, with the devastating Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929 often considered the beginning of the Depression. Among the countries with the most unemployed were the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Weimar Republic, Germany. The Depression was preceded by a period of industrial growth and social development known as the "Roaring Twenties". Much of the profit generated by the boom was invested in speculation, such as on the stock market, contributing to growing Wealth inequality in the United States, wealth inequality. Banks were subject to laissez-faire, minimal regulation, resulting in loose lending and wides ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populous city (after Zurich and Geneva), with 177,595 inhabitants within the city municipality limits. The official language of Basel is Swiss Standard German and the main spoken language is the local Basel German dialect. Basel is commonly considered to be the cultural capital of Switzerland and the city is famous for its many Museums in Basel, museums, including the Kunstmuseum Basel, Kunstmuseum, which is the first collection of art accessible to the public in the world (1661) and the largest museum of Swiss art, art in Switzerland, the Fondation Beyeler (located in Riehen), the Museum Tinguely and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Basel), Museum of Contemporary Art, which is the first public museum of contemporary art in Europe. Forty museums ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. The region includes Middle America (Americas), Middle America (comprising the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico) and Northern America. North America covers an area of about , representing approximately 16.5% of Earth's land area and 4.8% of its total surface area. It is the third-largest continent by size after Asia and Africa, and the list of continents and continental subregions by population, fourth-largest continent by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. , North America's population was estimated as over 592 million people in list of sovereign states and dependent territories in North America, 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortis (Swiss Watchmaker)
FORTIS Watches AG (formerly FORTIS Uhren AG), located in Grenchen is a luxury Swiss watches manufacturer that was founded by Walter Vogt in 1912. The brand is particularly known for robust, highly precise, automatic tool watches. The owner and CEO of Fortis is Jupp Philipp. History Fortis was founded by Walter Vogt in 1912. Twelve years after its establishment, Vogt set up production with John Harwood, inventor of the automatic wristwatch. In 1926, Fortis released the patented Harwood Automatic, the first self-winding wristwatch, at Baselworld. In 1937, Fortis commemorated the company's 25th anniversary by manufacturing and marketing its first chronographs, including the Rolls and the Autorist. The Autorist was also designed by John Harwood and used the movement of the strap to power the watch. By 1943, Fortis introduced some of the world's first waterproof watches with the Fortissimo models. In 1962 the Spacematic automatic was constructed to hold up in extreme conditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
