Watch microelectronics: Pioneer in portable consumer electronics

Mougahed Darwish, Marc Degrauwe, Thomas E. Gyger, Gunther Meusburger and Jean Claude Robert - a group of Swiss engineers at ETA and EM Microelectronic, the semiconductor manufacturer of the Swatch Group - describe the consraints of the watch-making industry that have shaped watch microelectronics, and relate how the pioneering skills and solutions of quartz watch-making have diffused into other portable consumer electronics applications.