In Memoriam

Dr. Armin H. Frei (1931-2012)

Inventor and Pioneer

On the First Quartz Electronic Wristwatch

Centre Electronique Horloger CEH
Neuchâtel Switzerland 1965-1967

By proposing the initial idea and concept for using a miniature quartz device as the heart of an electronic wristwatch in the year 1965 at the Centre Electronique Horloger CEH, a research laboratory recently founded by the Swiss watch industry in 1962 with the goal to investigate into new kinds of electronic wristwatches, and ingeniously inventing the milestone technical innovation to allow this quartz device to be orders of magnitude smaller than anything thought feasible before, Dr. Armin H. Frei can be seen as the true father of the world’s first quartz wristwatch and quartz miniature device. He was granted the leading patent for the miniaturization of the quartz oscillator by the Swiss patent office and was named as its inventor (see patents chapter).

Historically, the miniature quartz device as the core element of modern electronic timepieces with unrivaled mobility, accuracy, precision and stability stands at the end of a long succession of technological achievements of world class inventors, scientists and engineers to improve marine chronometers dating back to the 18th century, the longitudinal problem and the very first marine chronometer by John Harrison (1693-1776).

The significance of the miniature quartz device concept stretches far beyond the invention of quartz wristwatches, recognizing its vital application as a clocking device for electronic signals in the tiny circuits of all mobile computers we use today from smart phones to cameras, automotive and medical devices to all sorts of electronics that changed humanity forever.

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Dr. Armin H. Frei Heritage Estate, Zurich Switzerland