Max always wanted to know how things worked. As a boy
his curiosity in science often got him into trouble. When he was eleven he received an old
pocket watch from a relative and while at Sunday School the following day his curiosity
got the better of him. Also, he found Sunday School rather boring. He just had to have a
look inside the watch to find out how this wonderful thing worked. So he opened the back
of the watch with his Swiss army knife and looked at the movement with amazement. Of
course the Sunday School teacher caught him and punished him severely for not paying
attention to the lesson!
After that he built a variety of radios and a simple telephone. To be able to speak to
someone he had to give his younger brother a treat so that he would agree to talk to him
on the phone for a few minutes.
After primary school he went to the Mathematical and Natural Science College in Basel.
His primary school teacher in Muttenz told him he did not think he would succeed in this
elite school and that he had better buy a return ticket home. Max was hurt by this remark,
but he was also determined to succeed. He did not want to disappoint his father who
believed in him.
Often his science hobbies were so tempting that he forgot to concentrate on school.
When he was in high school he was very interested in astronomy. Lacking the funds to buy a
telescope, he decided to grind his own powerful lens and build a telescope. This labor of
love cost him over 720 hours of painstaking grinding. The result was that he almost had to
repeat a year in school because he fell behind with his studies. Nevertheless, his
telescope was a great success and he finished high school with the best results in his
class.
After serving in the army he was able to enrol at the ETH, the Federal Institute of
Technology in Zurich. He loved mathematics and physics and worked hard to earn his masters
degree in Electronics. His degree thesis "Electromechanical frequency filters for
telegraphy channel transmission" received the University's Silver Medal Award for
outstanding achievement. This paper contained the mathematical basis for the calculation
of tuning fork watches. But at this stage Max Hetzel did not recognize this important
fact. Nevertheless, his thesis later influenced him when he was looking to reinvent
watchmaking.
After university Max first worked for Hasler in Berne where he invented
radio-television devices using tuning forks. When he asked to receive royalties for his
invention Hasler refused. But Max and his family could not live on the modest salary he
received and so it was time to look for a new employer. Bulova Watch Company in Biel
advertised that they were looking for a talented engineer and that they were offering an
interesting and well-paid job.
Although Max knew very little about watches, he was interested in the job and so he and
his family moved to Biel, where he later invented the first electronic tuning fork watch.
To read about the development of this amazing watch please go to "Development of the Accutron".
