Swatch Launches A New Time For New Digital Era: Internet Time CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 1998-- - participants at MIT Media Lab's Junior Summit first to use Swatch Internet Time to rethink time for the new millennium - Still trying to figure out Y2K? Swatch has expanded the new millennium challenge with the launch of a whole new concept of measuring time in the future: Swatch Internet Time. Presented in Cambridge this week to the more than ninety kids from fifty- four countries participating in the Junior Summit at MIT's Media Lab, Swatch Internet Time is global time for a cyberworld. "Cyberspace has no seasons and no night and day," Nicholas Negroponte, Founder and Director of the Media Lab said, in introducing Swatch Internet Time at the Junior Summit. "Internet Time is absolute time for everybody. Internet Time is not geopolitical. It is global. In the future, for many people, real time will be Internet Time." Swatch Internet Time represents a completely new global concept where there are no time zones - no geographical borders to time. Swatch has divided up the virtual and real day into 1000 "Beats". Each Swatch Beat is equivalent to 1 minute 26.4 seconds. Swatch also created a new meridian for Internet Time at the Swatch headquarters in Biel, Switzerland. Biel Mean Time (BMT) is the universal reference for Internet Time. How does Internet Time work? A day in Internet Time begins @ 000 Swatch Beats --- or midnight BMT (Central Europe Time). That means that 12 noon in the old system is the equivalent of @500 Swatch Beats. For the participants at the Junior Summit who come from virtually every time zone in the world, Internet Time simplifies the process of scheduling on- line chats once they return to their homes. For new friends from China, India or the U.S., Internet Time is the same for everyone. Confused about calculating Internet Time? Just check the Swatch web site (www.swatch.com) or the CNN web site (www.cnn.com). In addition to posting the Swatch Internet Time, both web sites also provide a list of cities worldwide with the corresponding Internet Time posted for each. Beginning after the first of the year, Swatch will make keeping up with Internet Time even easier with the introduction of its first digital watch, Swatch Beat. The first models of the Swatch Beat watch available anywhere in the world were presented to the Junior Summit participants to use during the week of meetings and project development at the Media Lab. The young leaders not only incorporated the Internet Time concept into their scheduling for the week, they used their watches and Internet Time to launch their own discussions regarding new ways of thinking about time in the new millennium. In addition to Internet Time, the bold new watch offers functions that display local time, time in another time zone, a fixed countdown to the Y2K (Year 2000), a timer, a stop function and an alarm. In true Swatch style, fun is also part of the Swatch Beat. This is provided by three animations by three famous cartoonists - the Swiss artist Gerald Poussin, J. Otto from the USA and KM 7 from Japan. Every watch is equipped with one of these animations. Three very different-looking dogs jump around the dial, play with a bone until they have no energy left and then conclude the story against a lamp post. This is all made possible by a specially designed "Sandwich" LCD. A unique combination of tow LCDs allows one to be used for numericas and the other for a full screen animation. Swatch Beat is Swiss-made, water-resistant to 30 meters and has quartz precision. Swatch is proud to be a partner of the Junior Summit, presented by the Media Lab. The Junior Summit, held at the Media Lab from November 15th through the 21st, was developed to allow kids to have a say in the use and design of technologies which will determine how they work and communicate as tomorrow's adults. The Swatch partnership with the Junior Summit continues its tradition of support of global concerns including programs of the United Nations, the World Wildlife Fund, UNICEF, the Olympics and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, in addition to sporting events, art and cultural programs around the globe. Swatch is a division of The Swatch Group, the world's largest watch manufacturer and distributor with 14 brands and a global leader in microelectronics. In addition to Swatch, the Swatch Group brands include Omega, Hamilton, Longines, Tissot, Rado, Calvin Klein and Flik Flak watches.

What's the Internet time, someone?