First Versions: Electronics

Swatch (watches)

Swatch logo 1982
by M. Schmid and B. Müller

Name: "Swatch"

Categories: Electronics, Fashion

Subcategory: Watches

Developers: Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller, under supervision of Ernst Thomke

Producers:
--- ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse (founded in Grenchen, Switzerland, 1793)
--- Ébauches SA (founded in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1926)
--- Swatch Ltd. (founded by Nicolas G. Hayek in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, 1983)

Prototypes made: Since 1980

Production start:
--- October 1982 (Dallas, Texas, USA - first 10,000 pieces)
--- March 1, 1983 (official debut in Zurich, Switzerland)

First price: CHF 39.90 to 49.90

Features: In the late 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was in deep crisis. The country's centuries-old traditional approach seemed doomed to disappear in the face of competition from cheap, mass-produced quartz watches. A radical approach was needed, and the drive to simplify was soon complemented by a search for innovative materials and methods that would allow the production of an entirely new kind of Swiss watch. A small team of visionaries, working in secret, got a solution. ETA SA engineers Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller, under the direction of the then ETA SA's CEO Dr. Ernst Thomke started with a one-piece case made of plastic, the bottom of which also served as the bottom plate for the movement; they also have managed to decrease the number of assembled parts from about 100 (as done by Japanese competitors) to a mere 51 - operation known as "Revolution 51" -, hence further reducing the manufacturing costs. Working in sinergy with the engineers, designers Marlyse Schmid and Bernard Müller represented the creative heart of the team: they designed the final version of the casing - the shape and the two additional bridges for stabilizing the mount of the strap, which is one of the main characteristics of Swatch watches; they have designed almost all dials from 1981 prototypes up to 1986 market models, integrating in a very intelligent way the fluctuations in style and changes in color preferences through the years. Even the Swatch logo, which is one of the easiest recognizable logos, has been created by them. The overall result was a youthful watch which combined the highest Swiss quality with a new, trail-blazing attitude: Swatch.

Interesting facts: The name "Swatch", initially conceived by marketing consultant Franz Sprecher as a contraction of "Swiss Watch", was also intended as a contraction of "Second Watch", meaning a low-cost, high-tech, artistic and emotional watch.

Slogan (1982): «The Swiss watch that knows life should be an adventure»

Property: Swatch Ltd.

Producer website: http://www.swatch.com

Swatch watches, sketch of an early prototype named "Vulgaris" (by Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller, March 27, 1980)

Swatch watches, logo study (bottom right the final version - by Marlyse Schmid and Bernard Müller, 1981/82)

Early Swatch prototype assembling phases

Swatch watches, early prototypes (1981/82)

Swatch watches, first model launched to test market in USA (October 1982). 10,000 handmade pieces were product and distributed in Dallas, Texas. The introduction to the market was a flop; but soon these watches, handled as Fashion accessories, with new collections, fancy colors, crazy dial, and strap designs became a huge bestseller.

Swatch watches, advertising ("Texas Monthly", December 1982)

Swatch watches, first official series (12 models, debut in Zurich, Switzerland, March 1, 1983)

Swatch first series released in USA 1983

Swatch watches, first series released in USA (25 models - in the advertisement GB012 model is not shown - March 1983)

Swatch watches, "The Original Jelly Fish" (ref. GK100 SP, early 1983). Designed by Marlyse Schmid, the first transparent watch was launched in a limited edition of 200 pieces. This was the first "Special Model" introduced by Swatch.

Swatch advertising 1983 - New York Times Magazine

Swatch watches, advertising ("New York Times Magazine", December 4, 1983)

Swatch watches, German advertising ("Penthouse", December 1983)

Elmar Mock (La Chaux-de-Fonds, 1954) and Jacques Müller (Porrentruy, 1947), the engineers who created the Swatch watch under the direction of Ernst Thomke, then CEO of ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse.

Marlyse Schmid (La Forclaz, 1946) and Bernard Müller (Reconvilier, 1953), the designers who developed the Swatch iconic design. If Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller represent the inventors of Swatch, Marlyse Schmid and Bernhard Müller gave it an identity.

Swatch celebrates its 30th anniversary (1983-2013) with a special release: "Est. 1983" model, which features a skeletonized see-thru case with gold years instead of hours.

Swatch 30 years celebration at the annual watch fair in Basel, Switzerland, April 2013. The spacious Baselworld booth became Planet Swatch, which evolved each day to reveal the rich diversity of the brand.

Apple (Personal Computer)

Apple Computer Company logo. Left: 1976, by Ronald Wayne. It shows Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. The border reads: NEWTON... "A MIND FOREVER VOYAGING THROUGH STRANGE SEAS OF THOUGHT... ALONE". Right: 1977, by Rob Janoff. Soon the apple shape becomes universally recognizable.

Name: "Apple-1"

Categories: Electronics, Home - Office - School

Subcategory: Computer

Developer: Steve Wozniak

Producer: Apple Computer Company (founded on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne)

Production start: July 1976 - Palo Alto, California, USA (debut at the Homebrew Computer Club)

Discontinued: September 30, 1977

First price: 666.66 USD (dropped to 475 USD in April 1977)

Features: Apple-1 was world's first Personal Computer with monitor and keyboard access. It was delivered as a motherboard only, with the peripheral equipment - case, power supply transformers, power switch, ASCII keyboard, and composite video display - supplied by the user. As Apple-1 did not have an operating system, but a so-called "monitor program" that provided the interface between keyboard entry, CPU, memory and monitor exit, more sophisticated software system such as Basic had to be loaded on cassette; the cassette-interface card was offered by Apple as an optional addition. Microprocessor MOS Technology 6502. Clock Frequency 1.023 MHz. Effective Cycle Frequency (including refresh waits) 0.960 MHz. Video Output: Composite positive video, 75 ohms, level adjustable between zero and -15Vpp. Line Rate 15734 Hz. Frame Rate 60.05 Hz. Format: 40 Characters/line, 24 lines with automatic scrolling. Display Memory: Dynamic shift registers (1K x 7). Character Matrix: 5 x 7. RAM Memory: 16-pin, 4K Dynamic, type 4096 (2104). On-board RAM Capacity: 8K bytes (4K supplied). Power Supplies: +5 Volts @ 3 amps, +/-12 Volts @0.5 amp and -5 Volts @ 0.5 amps. Input Power Requirements: 8 to 10 Volts AC (RMS) @ 3 amps, 26 to 28 Volts AC (RMS) Center-Tapped, 1A.

Interesting facts: In April 1976 three young entrepreneurs - Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak ("Woz") and Ronald Wayne - founded the Apple Computer Company to sell a new kit-form personal computer, designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. He put together circuit boards for what would be called the "Apple-1", and Jobs sold them to a new computer store, the Byte Shop in Mountain View, California. Although the Apple-1 was not the earliest of the first generation PCs, it captured computer users' interest in an unprecedented way. Approximately 200 units were made. It continued to be sold through August 1977, despite the introduction of the Apple II in April 1977, which began shipping in June of that year. Apple dropped the Apple I from its price list by October 1977, officially discontinuing it.

Slogan: «Apple Introduces the First Low Cost Microcomputer System with a Video Terminal and 8K Bytes of RAM on a Single PC Card»

Property: Apple Inc.

Producer website: http://www.apple.com

Apple-1: Apple's first Personal Computer and first product ever (1976)

A rare Apple-1 ensemble (1976), comprising: matte-green Apple-1 motherboard with gold-plated white ceramic 6502 microprocessor; original cassette interface card for loading Apple-1 BASIC programming language; custom-written modern BASIC software demo program cassette; Datanetics keyboard; Sanyo VM-4209 9-inch monitor; period Stancor transformer; original "Apple-1 Operation Manual" and "Cassette Interface Manual". It was sold by Auction Team Breker on May 25, 2013, for 671,400 USD (World Record Price).

Apple-1, cover for the Operation Manual

Apple-1 assembled in a homemade wooden case

Apple-1 advertisement (Interface Magazine, July 1976)

Apple-1 advertisement (Interface Magazine, October 1976)

Apple Inc. co-founders with their first product Apple-1 in 1976: Stephen (or Stephan) Gary "Steve" Wozniak (San Jose, Aug. 11, 1950), and Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (San Francisco, Feb. 24, 1955 - Palo Alto, Oct. 5, 2011)

Apple Personal Computer 40 years later (iMac 2016)

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--- Apple Mac OS

Apple Mac OS

Mac System icon
1984

Original name: "Mac Software" or "System" (1984)

Name: "Mac OS" (since version 7.6, 1991)

Full name: "Macintosh Operating System"

Categories: Electronics, Home - Office - School

Subcategory: Operating Systems

Developer: Apple Computer Inc.
(founded on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne)

First versions:
--- System .85 with Finder 1.0: not a real operating system, it was developed only to run the Macintosh Guided Tour, and released in the related disk shipped with the Apple Macintosh 128K personal computer.
--- System .97 (known as 1.0) / Finder 1.0: first real Macintosh operating system.

Released: January 24, 1984 - Cupertino, California, USA

Platforms: Motorola 68000 microprocessor

Programming language: Object Pascal

Default user interface: Graphical User Interface (GUI)

First price: Mac OS was introduced in 1984 as being integral to the original Apple Macintosh 128K personal computer, which had an initial selling price of 2,495 USD

Features: The first Macintosh 128K machines came with a plastic Macintosh box that included: "System Disk" floppy disk with System 1.0 (0.97) / Finder 1.0; "A Guided Tour of Macintosh", floppy disk and audio tape. MacWrite and MacPaint applications came in a separate box that included software disks, guided tour disk and guided tour tape. The System file used on the January 1984 System Disk and Write/Paint disks is, technically, "Version .97 14-Jan-84". This information was hidden from the user, for internal reference only. For the user, this was System 1.0 / Finder 1.0. System 1 had a desktop, windows, icons, a mouse, menus, and scrollbars. Disks had an "Empty Folder" - new folders were created by changing the name of the Empty Folder - a replacement Empty Folder would immediately appear. The Trash worked like a garbage chute - anything in it would disappear with the next restart. Only one program could be run at a time, no virtual memory or protected memory was available.

Interesting facts: The original Macintosh system software was partially based on the Lisa OS, previously released by Apple for the Lisa computer in 1983. As part of an agreement allowing Xerox to buy shares in Apple at a favorable price, it also used concepts from the Xerox PARC Xerox Alto, which Steve Jobs and several other Macintosh team members had previewed. The first version of Mac OS (simply called System) is easily distinguished between many other operating systems from the same period because it does not use a command line interface; it was one of the first operating systems to use an entirely graphical user interface or GUI. Additional to the system kernel is the Finder, an application used for file management, which also displays the Desktop. The icons of the operating system, which represent folders and application software, were designed by Susan Kare, who later designed the icons for Microsoft Windows 3.0. Bruce Horn and Steve Capps wrote the Macintosh Finder, as well as a number of Macintosh system utilities.

Property: Apple Inc.

Producer website: http://www.apple.com

Macintosh System Disk (690-5003A), 3.5-inch floppy containing System 1.0 (0.97) / Finder 1.0

Macintosh System 1.0 boot. The sound of a chime and a smiling Macintosh ensure that the hardware is in order and the boot process is successfully completed.

Macintosh System 1.0 welcome splash

Macintosh System 1.0 desktop

Macintosh System 1.0, some icons by Susan Kare

"A Guided Tour of Macintosh", 3.5-inch floppy disk (690-5002A) and 33 min. audio tape. Recording tape was identical on both sides.

"A Guided Tour of Macintosh", some screenshots

Apple (Macintosh) from the Ads series by Andy Warhol (screen print on Lenox Museum Board, 1985)

Apple Mac OS, an advanced version (13.2 - "Ventura", 2022)

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--- Apple (Personal Computer)

CorelDRAW

CorelDRAW! icon 1989

Project name: "Waldo" (1987)

Name: "CorelDRAW!" (1989)

Categories: Electronics, Home - Office - School

Subcategory: Vector graphics editors

Developers: Michel Bouillon and Pat Beirne

Producer: Corel Corporation (founded by Michael Cowpland in 1985)

First version: 1.0

Developed: Since 1987

Released: January 16, 1989 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Platform: Microsoft Windows

Programming language: C++, C#

First price: 495 USD

Features: CorelDRAW! 1.0 package contains two 3.5" floppy disks (programs and samples in a disk, fonts in the other), a typescale (point) rule, a character and tapeface reference chart, a quick reference guide, a reference manual, and a video tutorial in VHS-tape. Minimum system requirements: PC IBM 286, 640K RAM, hard disk, DOS 3.0 or later, Microsoft Windows 2.0 or later, graphics card and monitor, mouse or graphic tablet. In its first versions, the CDR file format was a completely proprietary file format primarily used for vector graphic drawings and developed by Corel Corporation.

Interesting facts: In 1985 entrepreneur Michael Cowpland founded Corel (abbreviation of "Cowpland Research Laboratory") Corporation, a software house specialized in graphics processing. In september 1987 software engineers Michel Bouillon and Pat Beirne start to develop a vector-based illustration program to bundle with their desktop publishing systems. CorelDRAW was inspired by user requirements from a product called Corel Headline, which was developed specifically for Corel Ventura Publisher. Originally code-named Waldo, for the robot arm that can mimic hand movements, CorelDRAW made its debut in 1989, becoming the first graphics software for Microsoft Windows. CorelDRAW introduced a full-color vector illustration and layout program - the first of its kind. Two years later, Corel introduced the first all-in-one graphics suite with version 3, which combined vector illustration, page layout, photo editing and much more in a single package.

Slogan (1989): «CorelDRAW! does it all»

Property: Corel Corporation

Source Code Download: CorelDRAW! 1.10d (Internet Archive)

Product website: http://www.corel.com