Jul 16, 2009 10:00:06 AM

Handy display with perpetual calendar

Kienzle goes iPhone

From a simple ”ring ring” to a more annoying “dingeling” to the stomping sounds of modern pop music, the ring tone industry has seen an amazing development and boom over the last ten years. Not everyone appreciated the chirping, barking, rasping and blaring of mobile phones. But still, there was no stopping the deluge. But now – sounds are out and apps are in, and in it, in the iPhone.

A year ago there were about 500 of these applications about, small pieces of software and you could only get them from Apple’s own stores. Now there are already more than 50,000 with prices going from free of charge to greedy, their uses ranging from useful to useless. It is, however, a fact that iPhone users have long been infected by the collector’s virus. A mobile phone with a good app is like a Porsche with a high end leather interior. No wonder therefore that the watch industry, too, has been opening its doors to the collectors of these status symbols.

The latest example is the watchmaker Kienzle in Hamburg. Their masterpiece “The Perpetual Calendar 24 H N°4” of their Jacob Kienzle Edition can be downloaded in Apple Stores for 79 cents. This chronometer is far from being merely decorative on the mobile phone’s display but offers all the features of the original: it shows the hours, minutes, centre second, date, day of the week, month, leap year and a 24 hour time zone which can be adjusted to show a second time zone. It is funny – just like the original, the virtual iclockwork has to be wound, either by moving the telephone or by “turning” the animated crown on the display.

[caption id="attachment_807" align="aligncenter" width="525" caption="Kienzle App on the iPhone: The animation shows front and back"][/caption]

Tagged Watch Business, Business News, External Announcements