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| Fortis Watches |
Since its establishment in 1912 in Switzerland's Grenchen, this company can look back on a long tradition of developing precision chronographs for air and space travel. In 1998 Fortis presented the F2001 collection (based on the Valjoux 7750 caliber), the world's most incredible synthesis of alarm function and chronograph featuring a special rotor that simultaneously winds both spring barrels, thus ensuring the rate of both alarm and movement. The company's newest model outfitted with this alarm function is the B-42 Cosmonaut Alarm.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, this Swiss firm rich in tradition has worked intensively with specialists of air and space travel, and in 1994 earned itself the title "Official Sponsor for Space Missions and On Board the ISS International Space Station." To earn this title, the chronographs needed to be tested under extreme conditions both in a laboratory and
during missions in space outside the station. The majority of the tests were completed at the boundaries of physics. And they were successful, for the watches held up despite the enormous pressures placed upon them.
These chronographs accompany daring pilots on their adventures not only in outer space, but also in the earth's own atmosphere. The Russian Alexander Garnaev and the Frenchman Alexander Paringaux climbed to an unbelievable height of 30,000 meters in their MiG 25 PU and set a new world record in 1995. Seven years later, in 2002, French helicopter pilot Fred North in his AS 350 B2 Ecureuil broke the world record for the highest helicopter flight originally set in 1973. The daring pilot, who was wearing a Fortis chronograph, set the record at 12,954 meters.
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Just one year earlier, on September 10, 2001, Peter Peter, Fortis's managing director and head designer, received the Star of the Blue Planet award from the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos for his commitment to the development of mechanical chronographs for space travel. I n the same year, the GTS Project (Global Transmission Services) began aboard tfISS International Space Station with the goal ( testing global watch synchronization from space. Fortis is one of the industrial partners tc be counted as a pioneer in researching the benefits of this technology. One result of the project will be the first distribution of an encoded signal directly from orbit, 250 miles from earth, that will transmit the valid local time, including daylight savings time and UTC. time. |
Fortis
Helvetia Time Co. Inc.
100 N. Wilkes-Barre Blvd., Suite 303
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702
Tel.: 717-822-1900
Fax.: 717-822-4699
www.fortis-watch.com
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