Martin Braun, a master watchmaker, trained in Pforzheim, Germany, had a dream to make a new and innovative complication that indicates the local time of sunrise and sunset. Following 10 years of development, his dream became a reality in 2000 with the introduction of the EOS. The Martin Braun line is now composed of two growing collections, EOS and Classic. Handcrafted in a small atelier in Germany's Black Forest, each watch is individually customized to the wearer's city. EOS models are available in platinum, 18k rose gold and stainless steel, and production is strictly limited.

The EOS won second place in Chronos (of Germany's) Watch of the Year 2002 Technical Innovation Award competition. And, the EOS placed third in WatchTime magazine's competition for technical innovation behind Patek Philippe and Ulysse Nardin. Martin Braun will be introducing a third collection and several limited editions, including a tourbillon, in the next twelve months.

The Concept Is Born
Martin Braun's concept was to build a watch to show the time of both sun-rise and sunset. However, he met with significant difficulties due to the laws of nature. Nevertheless, through perseverance, he found a solution.
Every child knows about the seasons in our latitudes and that the sun rises earlier in the summer than in winter. We learned in school that this phe-nomenon depends on the ecliptic, which is caused by the skew of the Earth's rotation on its axis plus the Earth's elliptical course around the Sun.
It is a well-known fact that the Sun is absent from the North Pole during the winter, while at the South Pole it does not set at all during the same season. Thus, during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the pen-guins will not see the sun rise. Furthermore, at the equator a day is nearly equally split between daytime and nighttime.
On the day the sun begins to rise earlier again, Christmas is celebrated. The sun is then vertical to the turning Tropic of Capricorn.
Twice a year there is an equinox - on March 21, the beginning of springtime, and on September 23, when autumn begins.
Finally, there is a day each year when the sun reaches its Zenith. That day is June 21, after which the sun descends again towards wintertime. On that day, bonfires are still lit in some areas of the world according to ancient customs, while the sun is vertical to the turning Tropic of Cancer.
This process is repeated year after year. And, it has been used since ancient times for the organization of the calendar. The complete orbit of the Earth around the Sun defines our year, a complete revolution of the Earth, our day.
Martin Braun has a patent on the module that powers the registers that display sunrise and sunset times.