interesting Synchronar 2100 advert Dec 1975

[bruce wegmann]

Agreed; the validity of any statement is always subject to revision pending the introduction of additional facts; bring them on!

[fronzelneekburm]

Well , with the exeption of our two German readers... The facts still sway heavily towards the Hamilton Pulsar as the worlds first !.. If there were any doubt, I am sure the Smithsonian intstitute would have not credited the pulsar as the first.... , there is no doubt for me... Case Closed !!

Neither you nor the smithsonian institute are perfect. No offense, but everyone makes errors sometimes. If it is for you personally that this case is closed, then congratulations. I myself am only interested in facts and thus looking forward to the documents that Howard Riehl has mentioned.

[Mr Frequency 32768hz]

Lets face it LED people, we will never see a working Synchronar pre dating the P-1. Or any paper work of the synchronar with a pre 72 stating the worlds first LED watch. It aint nothing but hear-say. Cummon get real.

[Lordpulsar]

OK, Guys..

Lets see what Howard can come up with.... Its also worth mentioning that Time computer registered their watch with the US Patent office as the first led digital watch and I have this document on CD rom from John Bergeys personal portfolio....

Not a case of me being "perfect " at all ! I like others, have spent well over 10 years collecting and researching the history of these watches and I base my argument on the facts that I know and that are well documented... However, I have as I have said in other posts, if I am wrong, I stand to be corrected... If the Synchronar was ever sold pre- 1972 and their is DEFINITIVE PROOF ! I will be the first to say I was wrong.... Final point... If you register with a patent office .. Its a legal document and a legal claim... There are no " errors " in this...

Happy days !

[Dig-it-all]

Personally I think this evidence would have been brought to the Worlds attention long before now if there was solid proof. Even an advert doesn't mean there was working production models available. Money from the orders could have been used to finance inital production - long deliveries no doubt.

Anyway - how long does it take to take a picture/scan and post it. About as long as it took me to type this.

[fronzelneekburm]

In my eyes patents do not prove anything, they prove that some clever guy has brought an idea to the patent office.

Good example would be ebays "Buy it now" button which had been patented in 1995 and ebay had to pay a lot of money.

Personally I doubt that there were no "buy" buttons before 1995.

If it proves one thing than that Roger was too lazy to go to the patent office (That stuff also costs loads of money which Roger barely had). He could have at least the first solar-powered wristwatch patented, or the first digital wristwatch with alarm or automatic calendar or whatever. I think he just didnt have money and time to fight about patents and titles.

Dont forget he was a one man army - one man developing and manufacturing a watch with tech that was ages ahead of its time. Pulsar had an army of lawyers, engineers, marketing specialists, etc. They had Hamiltons experience in researching, marketing, selling, etc.

I believe if Roger did have the money and manpower like Pulsar then it would have been the Synchronar on the Carson show that was announced as the first digital watch and it would not only have been the first digital, it would also have been the first solar-powered watch.

If Roger was missing something, then it was luck and money.

I really dont want to saw off a leg of your P-1 throne, I just think Roger Riehl was the best watch inventor of his time, probably of all times. I am well aware that even if some proofs come up, then about noone here would accept them - but for me just personally it would mean a lot, maybe a bit of the respect that this great man deserved.

[Lordpulsar]

Can I just say.... (just incase there is a mis-understanding here) I have nothing but the highest respect for Roger and his designs... For me, enough said on the topic now... 8)

[fronzelneekburm]

Yes, I also think he was a great inventor.

Now reading this thread again I also want to say a big sorry to Simon and all others here. I am quite unsure as my english isnt THAT good (OK, I hear laughing already...), but I want to be sure noone here gets offended by what I have written here and in other topics.

Personally I am interested in all documents about Synchronar, no matter what date or significance they might have. I have a collection of various Synchronar and other LED watches ads and articles on my HDD and I always enjoy reading other stuff. For me personally its just interesting to keep track about the magazines where the ads appeared, the prices and involved companies. I think it is like collecting a bit of history.

I really encourage howard to publish ANY information he got, I will be curious for every little bit he can provide.

I hope you Pulsar fans will forgive me, but I do not even have one Pulsar ad on my HDD. I just know that simon, Bruce or the other Pulsar enthusiasts have them. I just want to take the chance of thanking all of you here - for the Information, pictures and experience you have shared with the world in this forum or on your websites. I dont regret being among the Pulsar collectors as I know I could never even come close to you guys. I am well aware that some of you are of no doubt among the worlds top ten collectors, but still you take the time to answer my stupid questions and helping me with my problems.

Thanks to all of you, thanks for being there! :D

[Dig-it-all]

Me too - I do not wish to discredit Roger. There is no question he was one clever guy.

[Lordpulsar]

Guys, absolutely no offence taken ! At the end of the day we all share the same passion for these watches with little numbers that glow red !..

Nice to share information with you all ....And thats the main thing !! :D

[Synchroserious]

Testing the system

[Synchroserious]

The system will not allow me to post long text I guess, it for 2hrs now has lost all my efforts to respond. I wish everyone to be happy with their digital led,s regardless of name brand. It sounds like too many people are allready judging me before I can do the right thing. I am truly sorry if you are still lost in a time warp on when the Synchronar all started . It has been 35 years so why not let me get a better Image of the Scans and photos so I wil not be flamed for that.

[fronzelneekburm]

Dear Howard, I hope you did not mistake any of our comments here - I think we were all quite excited about the breaking news and I still think everyone will be interested in any documents you can publish, then everyone can judge by yourself. I hope you can find someone who lets you use his scanner or camera. If you need a place to upload any pictures, then just let me know and I will be glad to be of any assistance.

I really beg your pardon for the harsh discussion which I obviously started with my first comment.

We would really be glad to see any documents about Roger Riehl published, it is so hard to find any facts or infos about that brilliant man.
I wish there was an interview from Roger or someone who knows him available. I barely find anything about him but about the Synchronar. And even about the Synchronar I would be interested in a complete timeline describing development and releases of the different versions.

I wonder if Roger Riehl had ever invented or build other things? I mean the Synchronar is so brilliant, he probably had many other good ideas.

So little is known about him... I think even if it is not directly related to the Synchronar, I would be glad about any bit of info I can get.

[Synchroserious]

Hello Fronz, thank you for your interest. I plan on starting with his early achievements such as a Home made pinball machine he constructed as a ninthgrader to win awards. Then we will move along to his first digital display home made football scoreboard with a timeout counter he put together as a 16 year old Junior. You may like his senior awards best for his Electronic Regulation of the Audible Spectrum demonstration.

We are entering the one year mark since his passing on Feb, 16-05. I was hoping after this mystery novel is complete there could be a momment of silence on this special day regardless of what you may feel about him being a pioneer or how he may have become slow to service on time in his last days.
People have to remember things like how over the years several thousand modules went out the door for free!! Wnty replacement, all to keep it going.This all happened years before the dawn of L.E.D collectors have recently come on the seen and some with very distorted views.
There are many who would side with the Synchronar if they happened to find this forum. BTW there are a few hundered people back in Ohio to contact if I have to along with many happy customers. Thanks for the nice comments. Howard

[fronzelneekburm]

Hello, Howard!

Thanks a lot for your reply. I am very glad about your plans and looking forward to your future postings.

Its so good to finally get to know a few details, I always knew there was so much more about him than only the Synchronar. I already wanted to write a wikipedia article about him, but I just dont know a thing. I dont even know his date of birth, so how could I write that. And it really wouldnt be fair to just write one or two lines like "was the inventor of the Synchronar watch", that would be like reducing George Washingtons Article to "was a president long ago.".

I really hope that one day we will at least have a short biography about Roger Riehl that states more than only facts about the Synchronar.

Dont set yourself under pressure - noone here can urge you to do anything you dont have time for. When you think you have something worth to publish, then you just do it then and not earlier.

And dont take everything too serious, in real life you always have gestures and face expressions to underline what you mean - here where the bare word counts it is often harder to express what you mean and it soon comes to misunderstand each other.

Weird people like me often say things they soon regret, take the people serious, but not every single word.


Thanks for the info and looking forward to hearing again from you. :wink:

[Synchroserious]

He was born on Dec.25th-1935 Christmas day in Brooklyn NY. He would have been 70 this passed Christmas.