CREDO DE TEMPUS - THE EQUIUM PHILOSOPHY OF TIME
By Berj Terzian, President Equitime, Inc.
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THE BEGINNING OF TIME Itself invisible, inaudible, untouchable, and without taste or odor, time paradoxically is the crucial element of human existence. Each, in this world receives a finite share of it. And because time cannot be interrupted, prolonged or replaced, each must treasure, conserve and use his or her share with utmost skill and care to derive the fullest possible measure of achievement and satisfaction from it. This is the essence and mystery of life. Consider the first of the species which were humans. Ignorant of even the faintest concept of time, they saw motions in nature around them. The sun, for instance, edged above an horizon, uniformly rose to its mid-day peak and then, at the same pace, sank below the opposite horizon. Without exception this happened, cycle after cycle, day after day, unceasingly, throughout their existence. They saw and at first only sensed the regularity, the dependability, the rhythm and the balance of the motion. And then one day they understood that they could pace the activites of theri own existence by keeping in step with the sun's daily arches across the sky. So, reason teaches, was born the perception of time in human consciousness. They discovered the constancy of other natural motions. They saw and understood the lunar cycle governing the moon's rise and fall, and they devised the calendar to keep pace with it. They watched the sun rise from its winter low to the summer high and then reverse to return to the same low. And the monoliths of Stonehenge, the light admitting cracks and rock scratchings in the Arizona cave, the Mayan astronomical implements, and others, were invented to measure and track the sun's annual cycle. All the natural motions they saw showed balanced oscillating rhythms of equal and opposite phases. The Eastern sun initially rose to the point of maximum ascent at the mid-day peak and then reversed direction to fall over an equal period to the Western horizon. The limits between ebb and flow tides, moon rise and fall, winter and summer solstices, similarly were traversed in balanced rhythms of expansion from a beginning to the zenith and then, reversal and contraction over an equal period back to the point which marked the end and the simultaneous new beginning. These are what the ancients saw, sensed, understood, and finally used as the measures of their existence. These are the rhythms which are indelibly coded in our genes. |
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Leap now across countless millennia — over the sun dial and the hour glass (the original day dividing timepieces) — to the invention of the analog watch. A simple device, a round dial with hands rotating on it, yet effective and convenient. It gives pictures of the entire cycle of each hour and therefore the freedom and opportunity to read it the way our genes subtly urge us to. When each hour begins, we read minutes past the hour. Then, when about half the hour is completed, we turn and begin reading time until the next hour. Think for a moment of what you are doing. Initially the hour is young and still growing to its maximum point of expansion (half past). So you keep looking back at the beginning and take the measure of how far you have travelled from there to monitor your position in space/time. But starting at half past, less of the hour remains than has gone by. So to conserve what is left and best pace your efforts to it, you instinctively turn and start measuring how much time remains before the next hour, i.e., the end and next new beginning. This is the way dial watches are read becaus this echoes the natural rhythms from which human-kind first sensed and understood the concept of time. The aboriginal seeing the sun begin to fall from its mid-day peak did not care any longer about when it rose, but instead started thinking about what he could still accomplish in the remaining time to sunset. He switched his timing benchmarks from the past to the future, just as we do when reading an analog watch. Take another step now across several centuries to the invention of the digital watch. At first acclaimed as a marvel of space age technology and sought by many at premium prices (the original Pulsar digital sold for about $300), what was the attraction? Well, for all their appeal and convenience, analog watches have one basic drawback. They must be translated in the mind from markings around a dial into numbers. All of us must use numbers, ultimately, to know or tell the time. Try to communicate the position of a minute hand using only corresponding positions of your fingers. It is totally impractical. So we cannot escape having to translate the hand positions of the dial watch into numbers. Whether you are conscious of it or not, that takes time. Sometimes a dial has very few or even no marks around its edge, and then it is even harder to do the translation. Until you do, you do not know the time. Digital watches changed all of that. They showed numbers only, no hands, and therefore could be read instantaneously with no pause for translation. That was their marvel and that was what fascinated purchasers. But manufacturer and consumer alike overlooked a fundamental point: the digital watch does not track or portray time in the balanced rhythms which our genes demand. A digital watch counts the period of each hour by looking back at its beginning, and it continues to do so minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day — without exception. Like some mindless slave it always looks backward, oblivious to the simple fact that the amount of time from the beginning to the end of each hour as is a known quantity!
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THE FINAL CHAPTER
Constantly looking back at the beginning is necessary and appropriate only when the end of the event being timed is unknown. For instance, the start of a slalom racer's downhill run is known, but when he will come out of the last gate to cross the finish line is total unknown. So all that we can (and should) do is to look back continuously at the beginning and measure from that benchmark how long it takes for him to reach the bottom and pass under the finish line. In this way we can (and must) measure back to the same beginning to determine the total length of time that each contenstant takes to reach the endpoint, which is always known and unascertainable at the beginning. But to suggest that this is also how one should keep track of the known period of each hour is utterly absurd. If we know when each hour begins and when it will also end, then we ought to be allowed to turn and look at how much time remains when we start getting closer to the end than we have been to the beginning. This is our heritage and this is precisely what digital watches do not permit. Which brings us to the invention of the EQUIUM watch, the final chapter in our journey from prehistory. This watch was created by Equitime, Inc. to provide a totally new integration of the ancient, timeless rhythms of time with numbers — the fuel of contemporary society. The march to numbers is inexorable and inescapable. The pocket calculator has consigned the slide rule to extinction; the laboratory balance has given way to the digital scale; the stereo dials and scales are being replaced by digital station readouts; the computer lives on numbers; the list is endless. Therefore, the EQUIUM watch is not only novel but also a timely innovation that has been created to fulfill your most exacting timekeeping requirements in today's digital world. With this watch, you will see pictures of time painted with numbers in the basic natural rhythms that surround and govern our existence. For the first half of each hour, the numbers define each and every step, second after second, minute after minute, by which time has moved away from the beginning. Then the view shifts and EQUIUM shows the same precise steps remaining before the end of the hour and the beginning of the new hour. You will see these dual cycles visually, unambiguously, unmistakable, at all moments, and will know instantly and exactly where the present time is in each half hour. The EQUIUM watch thus portrays broadly and yet exactly the expansion and contraction of each hour with a certainty and an instantaneity never before possible.
Life and our world grow ever more complex, fast paced and hectic. The demands placed upon the time of many are relentless and nearly overwhelming. There has never been a more critical need to watch the time with accuracy, instantaneity and knowledge of where it is in the basic cycle of expansion and contraction of each hour, in order to match the pace of one's existence with the heavy demands that are constantly made upon it. We assure you that the EQUIUM watch will better satisfy this need than any other timepiece previously offered. This is true because EQUIUM and its successor QUADTEC unite the old world of pictures with the new world of numbers in a manner which distills and captures the purest essence of time. We promise it will bring you nothing less than the most exciting and rewarding timekeeping you have ever known. EQUIUM is a trademark for timepieces offered by Equitime, Inc. |
For further information on our watches click here to view our unique time pieces, or visit one of our retailers nearest you, or contact us at info@EquiTimeWatch.com | 1-877-QUADTEC (782-3832).
