At 01:55 PM 5/25/01 -0300, you wrote:
>Ronn wrote:
> >
> >> At least he invented something that is even more useful
> >> than the airplane, and that half of humanity uses half of
> >> the time O:-)
> >
> > Okay, I'll bite. What?
> >
>The wristwatch :-)
>
>Alberto Monteiro
Sorry. Cartier invented it for him.
From <http://www.maria-brazil.org/santos.htm>:
Alberto Santos-Dumont
Pioneer Aviator, 1873-1932
Santos-Dumont and The Wristwatch
Louis Cartier invented the wristwatch for his friend, famous aviation
pioneer, Alberto Santos-Dumont, in March of 1904. They had met and become
good friends in 1900. On October 19, 1901, Santos-Dumont won the Deutsch de
la Meurthe prize of 100,000 francs for flying his dirigible number six from
the Park Saint Cloud to the Tour Eiffel and back under thirty minutes.
His victory was celebrated at Maxim's that evening, and at some point
Santos-Dumont complained to Cartier about the difficulty of checking his
pocket watch to time his performance. He wanted his friend to come up with
an alternative that would permit him to keep both hands on the controls.
Louis Cartier went to work on the idea and the result was a watch with a
leather band and a small buckle, to be worn on the wrist (on left, above).
Santos-Dumont never took off again without his personal Cartier wristwatch
and he used it to check his world record for a 220-meter flight, achieved
in just twenty-one seconds, on November 12, 1907.
The new Santos watch was officially introduced on October 20, 1979 at the
Paris Air Museum next to the 1908 Demoiselle, the last aircraft
Santos-Dumont built.
-- Ronn! :)
