WITTNAUER | Swiss Braille Dresswatch
Louis Braille invented Braille - reading by hand
1960s
Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 in Coupvray, Île-de-France; † January 6, 1852 in Paris) was a French teacher of the blind, a pioneer of care for the blind and inventor of the braille writing system for the blind named after him, Braille for short.
Braille went blind in his childhood at the age of 3 but did not want to resign himself to only being able to experience literature by reading aloud. He thought about a script for the blind and - based on the ideas of others before him - invented Braille.
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At Valentin Haüy's school for the blind, which he attended from 1819, he became acquainted with a system that Haüy had learned about during a concert and subsequent conversation with the blind composer, pianist and music teacher Maria Theresia Paradis during her three-year trip to Europe and her stay in Paris. A composition box had been developed for her, with which she could compose her correspondence and sheet music, teach blind and sighted children together and thus provide for her own livelihood. Haüy was so fascinated by this that he also developed these devices for himself, with which movable letters and notes could be embossed and felt on paper.
Louis Braille was thus made aware of this system as a pupil of Haüy and experimented in his father's shoemaker's workshop with making triangles, squares and circles out of pieces of leather to further simplify the writing. However, he was not satisfied with the result. As an 11-year-old, Braille became acquainted with the "night writing" invented by an artillery captain named Charles Barbier for military purposes, which was a complicated system of dots and syllables. Braille simplified this script by replacing the syllables with letters and reducing the number of dots from twelve to six per character. In 1825, the 16-year-old Louis Braille had completed his Braille.
It was not until 1850 that Braille was officially taught in French schools for the blind. Braille did not live to see the international breakthrough of his invention. He died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1852. Braille was officially introduced in Germany in 1879.
100 years after his death, Braille's body was exhumed and transferred to the Panthéon in Paris. However, his hands, which were so important for the invention, remained in Braille's grave in his home town.
In 1999, the asteroid (9969) Braille was named after him.
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Wittnauer has transformed Braille's invention into this special time machine - with a spring cover opening for the glass, extra fixed hands and a pearl white Braille dial. This unique watch has been conserved in a time capsule to this day - like new.
An important timepiece, technically based on an important invention!
FEEL IT.
Manual movement
Diameter 34 mm without crown
Technical indications | Keeping time +26 sec/day
Serviced 2023
Differential taxation according to § 25a UStG. No taxes included. | Differenzbesteuerung nach § 25a UStG. Kunstgegenstände und Sammlungsstücke, Sonderregelung.
