Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SLIDE RULE WRISTWATCHES
Robert Adams
Robert graduated with a Electro‐Technology Diploma from the
SA Institute of Technology in 1970, using a slide rule (Thornton
P221) and with a Engineering Degree in 1979 using a electronic
calculator (HP25). He is currently the Principal Strategist for
ElectraNet, an electricity transmission company. He started
collecting slide rules approximately 10 years ago and has currently
approx. 400 rules in the collection. A main focus of the collection is
“Electro” slide rules and rules that have hyperbolic functions. Robert
currently resides in Enfield, South Australia.
A slide rule watch can be defined as any watch which combines the normal chronological
functions with a calculating device that uses logarithmic scales. A small number of watches
have only one logarithmic scale that rotates around a fixed time scale or have only one
logarithmic scale for decoration, I do not consider these to be slide rule watches.
Introduction
The first slide rule watch was probably a pocket watch designed by Meyrat & Perdrizet in
France near the turn of the 19th century.
The slide rule wristwatch has a relatively recent origin, appearing from 1940 onwards.
There is some dispute about who manufactured the first slide rule wristwatch, but it was
certainly a Swiss firm. The first three slide rule wristwatches came from the firms MIMO,
Juvenia and Breitling. The Mimo‐Loga was possibly the first, with its patent
application appearing on July 27, 1940, some weeks before Breitlingʹs patent for the
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
Chronomat which was submitted on August 26, 1940. The Juvenia Arithmo is usually dated
around 1945 when it became commercially available. The images of the Mimo‐Loga, Juvenia
and the Breitling below are taken from Art Simon’s Slide Rule watch site.
However In 1952, Breitling also introduced a pilotʹs wristwatch with an integrated circular
slide rule that incorporated scales specialized for flight calculations: the Navitimer. This watch
which was referred to by Breitling as a ʺnavigation computerʺ, featured airspeed, rate/time of
climb/descent, flight time, distance, and fuel consumption functions, as well as kilometre–
nautical mile and gallon–litre fuel amount conversion functions. This watch, available in larger
commercial quantities, came to epitomise the slide rule watch.
With few exceptions no other watch manufacturers introduced slide rule models until the
1960’s. This may be attributed to the fact that Swiss patents have a term of 20 years, and so
after the 1940 patents expired, other watch manufacturers felt free to incorporate logarithmic
scales on their products.
The Japanese (Seiko and Citizen) introduced models around the 70’s. And now even budget
brands such as Casio have introduced slide rule models.
Types
Slide rule wristwatches can be broadly categorized into two classes based upon their scale
types and the number of scales included. The categories are described as follows.
Calculating Watches
Aviator (or Navigator) Watches
Calculating watches
These wristwatches usually have only two scales usually a C and D scale arranged in
similar fashion to the Mimo‐Loga patent. (Note: in this paper I will refer to the C scale as being
the outer most scale on the watch). Examples of this genre are:
The Girard – Perregaux The Ventura Loga
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
Aviator watches
An aviator or navigator slide rule wristwatch by
definition should assist the navigator in calculations
required by their profession. To do this the slide rule
wristwatch needed to emulate the main functions of the
E6‐B computer, the pilot’s manual calculating device.
An E6‐B Flight Computer
The Breitling Navitimer was the first to do this by
combining the C and D scales on a rotating Bezel and
inner face and with a direct 9‐hour speed scale on the
clock face in a similar layout to the E6‐B. This
arrangement enabled pilots to calculate airspeed,
rate/time of climb or descent, flight time, distance, and
fuel consumption functions, as well as kilometre–
nautical mile and gallon–litre fuel amount conversion functions.
Examples of this type are:
Breitling Navitimer with 9‐hour speed scale. The Pulsar
(Note: not all Navitimers have this scale) (probably 100 times cheaper than the Breitling!)
Use
The uses of the slide rule scales on a slide rule wristwatch are as per the normal methods
used on any circular slide rule and any instructions for a circular slide rule would be able to be
used for the slide rule watch. To illustrate the general calculations and aviation calculations I
have condensed instructions from the Casio Watch Company. The full and unabridged
instructions can be found on their website http://world.casio.com/. The examples use an
aviator watch which has a outer and inner logarithmic scale and also a inner time scale. In
these explanations I will use the terms inner and outer to refer to the logarithmic scales and
the term inner (time scale) to refer to the time scale.
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
Math Calculations
Multiplication
Example 12 x 15
Align 12 on the outer scale with 10 on the inner
scale. Then, 15 on the inner scale corresponds to 18
on the outer scale, taking into account the position
of the decimal point to obtain the answer of 180.
Division
Example 300 / 15
Align 30 on the outer scale with 15 on the inner
scale. Then, 10 on the inner scale corresponds to 20
on the outer scale, taking into account the position
of the decimal point to obtain 20.
With other methods ratios and square roots can
be obtained.
Conversions
Distance
Example: Convert 45 miles into nautical miles and
kilometres
Align 45 on the outer scale with STAT on the
inner scale. Then, NAUT on the inner scale
corresponds to about 39 nautical miles on the outer
scale, and KM on the inner scale corresponds to
about 72 km on the outer scale
Weight
Example: Convert 16.4 oil lbs. into U.S. gallons and
IMP gallons and litres.
Align 16.4 on the inner scale with OIL LBS on
the outer scale. Then, U.S. GAL on the outer scale
corresponds to about 2.2 U.S. gallons on the inner
scale, and IMP. GAL on the outer scale
corresponds to about 1.8 IMP gallons on the inner
scale, and LITERS on the outer scale corresponds
to about 8.3 litres on the inner scale
Volume
Example: Convert 13.1 fuel lbs. into U.S. gallons and
IMP. gallons and litres.
Align 13.1 on the inner scale with FUEL LBS on
the outer scale. Then, U.S. GAL on the outer scale
corresponds to about 2.2 U.S. gallons on the inner
scale, and IMP. GAL on the outer scale
corresponds to about 1.8 IMP. gallons on the inner
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
scale, and LITERS on the outer scale corresponds to about 8.3 litres on the inner scale
Aviation
Travel Time required
Example: Obtain the time required for the flight of an aircraft at 160 knots for 240
nautical miles
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
The images above show that the outermost scale is an inverse sine scale (SI). The scale
provides the answer to 1/sin(x) which would be of advantage in any calculation involving the
law of sines. It is interesting to note that the scale also has the converse to the sine scale i.e. the
cosine scale indicated in orange, which would also allow the calculation of problems involving
1/cos (x).
This watch is also unique for another reason which will be elaborated in a later section.
Index Mark
The index mark is placed at the 12 o’clock position usually on the inner scale. In the
majority of the aviator and other slide rule wristwatches the value on the D scale (the normally
fixed scale) at the index position is 60. In other cases the slide rule watches mimic a normal
circular slide rule and the value at the index position is 10 or 1.
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
Examples
Index Mark = 60 Index Mark = 10
The reason for the placement of the index mark in these cases seems to be arbitrary. In most
cases Aviator type watches tend to have the index mark at 60. Where as most calculator
wristwatches tend to have the mark at 10. Although this convention is not consistently
applied.
Gauge Marks
Many wristwatches, particularly the Aviator type, include gauge marks for many of the
calculations. Most calculations involve a fixed relationship and are used for the conversion of
one quantity to another e.g. nautical mile to kilometres or litres to gallons. As such the
placement of the gauge marks could have been arbitrarily distributed along the scale. I.e.
taking the statute mile to kilometre gauge marks for example, as long as the relationship of
approximately 1 to 1.61 is maintained between the marks, any values could be used. But
nearly all watches conformed to the gauge mark values contained in the following table.
Category Gauge Mark Value
Distance Nautical Mile 660 or 327
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
Category Gauge Mark Value
Statute Mile 760 or 380
Kilometre 1222 or 611
Fuel Litres 485
Fuel Lbs 766
Oil Lbs 960
Imperial Gallon 1065
US Gallon 1280
Mathematical Pi 3.14
Seconds 360
Lbs 3630
Kgm 1623
Feet 1430
Metres 4360
Cursors
Cursors on slide rule wristwatches are indeed rare; the only real example would again be
the unique and magnificent Seiko 6138‐7000.
Rotating
Cursor
Cursor Parts
Cursors are indeed a rare inclusion for a number of reasons. Not least is the fact that
normally only two scales are usually involved and therefore an index mark is all that is
required. Another reason could be that the implementation of a cursor on a watch means that
a protuberance would be required and this would be prone to catching on pockets, garment
edges etc.
Another form of cursor is that used in the Mondia illustrated below. The Mondia had two
movable scales and had an engraved red hairline on the watch class. This provided a “cursor”
function.
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
The Mondia
Accuracy
Sufficient accuracy and precision was and is the difficulty faced by all small length slide
rules and slide rule wristwatches being some of the shortest length scales suffered the most
from problems with accuracy and precision.
The “accuracy” of a calculation system is the degree of proximity of the calculated result to
its actual value. The “precision” of a calculation is the degree to which repeated calculations
show the same results.
As the scales on a slide rule wristwatch are concentric the repeatability of the calculation
would normally be guaranteed if there is no flex in the mounting of the scale rings. The
placement of the scales had a direct bearing on the readability of the scales and hence the
repeatability (precision) of the calculation. This is best demonstrated by the following images
Placement of the scales as close as possible to each Whereas placement of the scales in this example
other made reading straightforward makes accurate reading of the result difficult to repeat.
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
In most linear slide rules, even, the cheapest rule had scales that “tick” marks that aligned
along the entire scale. The early and high end slide rule wristwatches, such as the Juvenia and
Breitling also showed the same manufacturing accuracy. But some modern slide rule
wristwatches demonstrate somewhat shoddy manufacturing techniques and the alignment of
the tick marks can be so far out of alignment that errors in calculation can easily approach
10%.
Index aligned Tick mark at 30 out of alignment.
30 on the inner scale aligns with
29.8 on the outer scale
GE Ollech and Wjas
Evolution
As electronics drove to ever decreasing sizes it was inevitable that calculators could be
produced in the size aspect of wristwatches. There are many examples of “4 function”
calculators produced in wrist watch form but very few in scientific styles. Perhaps the most
complicated watch is the Casio CFX‐200 shown in the following image.
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
Like the HP35 to the slide rule this would seem to be the death knell for the slide rule
wristwatches. But no, the Casio CFX‐200 has been and gone and the slide rule wristwatch is
more prevalent than ever. Why? I would like to think that the slide rule, has at last found a
position in the modern world, but alas I think it is a reflection of fashion or mode for the retro
feel.
Acknowledgements
Firstly I would like to thank Art Simon for allowing me to use many of the images from his
excellent Slide Rule watch site. http://sliderulewatches.googlepages.com/history.html. The use
of these images greatly assisted me in the preparation of this paper. And I relied upon his site
for the introductory historical information.
Secondly, I would also like to thank David Rance for again editing this paper and his many
suggestions that significantly improved it.
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Slide Rule Wristwatches
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