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Ernst Benz
The Event of the Century
by Elizabeth Doerr

American history has always been closely related to European history – until 1776 that is. There are many examples of European and American history coming together again in the watch industry: Companies like IWC, Movado, Bulova, Chase-Durer, and RGM are all good examples. Ernst Benz, the watch brand introduced last year by Wilmington, North Carolina’s Orbita Corporation and Swiss inventor/engineer Ernst Benz is another perfect example of these two continents joining to make history. And within this great event, the company is supporting and propagating yet another historical moment important for all of mankind, but one that actually took place in North Carolina, the home state of Ernst Benz Limited.

In 2003 a historical event that changed the course of travel forever will celebrate its 100th anniversary: The first manned flight achieved by Wilbur and Orville Wright on December 17, 1903. The Wright brothers from Dayton, Ohio, began researching and experimenting with flight in the late 1890s. By the year 1900 they were already searching for a good place to try out their ideas. For their first experiments in flight they needed constant wind, soft sand, and plenty of privacy. They began to poke around in North Carolina’s Outer Banks area, receiving responses from two different residents of a town called Kitty Hawk, both describing the area and promising the residents’ support. One month later the brothers arrived in Kitty Hawk along with their glider. As promised, the people of Kitty Hawk provided them with food and assistance, the men of the nearby Life Saving Service Stations also becoming their ground crew. Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to Kitty Hawk in 1901 and 1902, each time sporting new and improved designs solving their problems of life and lateral control. By the year 1902 the brothers felt they had achieved all they could in glider flight, and wanted to move on to manned, engine-powered flight. In Dayton they had designed and built propellers, a gas engine, a drive mechanism, and a launching apparatus, though even after they had arrived in North Carolina, they kept on re-designing the drive train. On December 14, they were finally ready. Wilbur won the coin toss and piloted the 605-pound aircraft, though he unfortunately overcorrected on take-off and damaged it. On December 17, 1903, on the sands of Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, at 10:35 a.m., Orville Wright lifted off in his machine-powered aircraft for 12 seconds and flew 120 feet, his brother Wilbur running alongside the entire time. Outer Banksman John T. Daniels recorded the moment photographically for the annals of history – one of the world’s most famous photographs. The day wasn’t over for the Wright brothers and they continued to set brand-new world records, finally reaching a distance of 852 feet in 59 seconds on that fateful day.

The centennial festivities, already being termed the Event of the Century by a number of American organizations and members of the press, will be celebrated nationwide, but most fervently in North Carolina. One of the most prominent organizations at the centennial is the First Flight Centennial Foundation, based in Kitty Hawk, NC. This organization is planning gala functions and fund-raising by licensing aviation-related products. These funds will benefit the goals of the First Flight Centennial Foundation, which include among other things improving the Wright Brothers National Memorial located in Kill Devil Hills. Former president George Bush Sr., is the honorary chairman of the First Flight Centennial Foundation.

Ernst Benz Limited has, naturally, been appointed the official watch supplier for the events by the First Flight Centennial Foundation. Based on the ChronoSport, a timepiece that debuted last year, the company is offering three specially designed limited edition watches in honor of the Wright brothers’ accomplishment. Ernst Benz Limited entered the North American market in 2001 with the introduction of a line of fully dimensioned watches. Benz’s name may be familiar to some readers, but not from the wristwatch industry. Ernst Benz is a Swiss engineer who made quite a name for himself in the audio industry. Beginning his career in the 1960s, he went to California to work at Consolidated Electrodynamics developing accelerometers and pressure transducers for the aircraft industry. After many years in the United States, he returned to Switzerland to develop a patented process for producing diamond styli for hi-fi cartridges. This was the basis for the company he founded, and he was soon able to acquire one of his customers, Empire Scientific, a renowned American cartridge and turntable producer. A later cartridge, the Benz Micro, became the ultimate moving coil cartridge in the 1970s and ‘80s and is still in demand today by discerning audio buffs and deejays who work with vinyl. In the 1980s, as cassette tapes and CDs began to displace records, Benz refocused his energies, developing an innovative aircraft instrument chronograph. As a pilot and gliding enthusiast, he was well aware of the necessary for accurate and instantly legible instruments while in the air. This was also a successful instrument, and his Benz Micro aircraft chronograph is presently standard equipment in many single-engine planes, military jets, and sailplanes, with more than one thousand in daily use globally.

As the cockpit of a glider or sailplane is limited in space, but the need for accurate timekeeping remains critical, Benz decided to design a large-format, automatic-winding chronograph after receiving many inquiries from fellow pilots. Previously relying on ETA to supply him with the trustworthy movements to power his navigational instruments, he once again turned to the world’s largest supplier of mechanical movements to furnish the energy for these instruments for the wrist. Being both Swiss and a pilot, he is well aware of how important precision timing is. At the beginning, he produced some watches in very limited quantities, noticing that Swiss and German pilots, yachtsmen, and rally and race car drivers were utilizing them more than anyone else.