OK, yes, we know it's a stopwatch, but look carefully. Those numbers don't look like any other stopwatch we've ever seen. A full rotation of the large hand is VERY swift -- 0.050 of a minute. The tiny dial measures 1 and 1/2 minutes (30 revolutions of the big dial). What in the world would be the purpose of such a thing?
Further deepening the mystery is the inscription on the reverse:
What does all that mean? Is it a code? Does DJ-38 ring a bell for anyone?
Here is what we know: The brand of the stopwatch is Minerva, it was made in Switzerland, and the box has a handwritten number 132 on it (though I don't think this is any sort of model number).
It belonged to my grandfather, who was an engineer, was in the Navy, and also had a small boat he sailed on the Chesapeake. I don't know what he used it for or when, so any piece of information there could be a real or misleading clue.
We welcome your ideas, though I must say, we have googled the heck out of this thing and have come up with nothing!
Correct answers will win glory, praise, and a deep sense of satisfaction.
If anyone needs a clue and hasn't already figured this one out:
ReplyDeleteThe numbers on the back are related by the equation (a X b) = 60. The decimal numbers appear to be readings you'd get from the stopwatch, hence fractions of minutes. So the table is a guide to calculating 60/(x minutes), which would give you something per minute. RPM? a speed?
Actually, the watch in question is a Zipspdr Encabulator.
ReplyDeleteIt was designed by one Karl Klowski, of the famous Cleveland Klowski clan.
It was, in its time the most accurate way to measure the start / stop time of webspinning of the rare Rehoboth Zipper Spyders. Not yet on the erndangered s[ecies list, but close.
Karl, unfortunately no longer with us, after having been bit numerous times by the aformentioned Zipper Spyders, spun himself into a web and alas, well, need I say more.
Thanks for your support,
Ernst Klowski Moose, Prof. Ernmeritus