Press Release No. 149

 WATCHWINDERS WITH LITHIUM BATTERIES

NEW LITHIUM CELLS PROVIDE FIVE YEAR BATTERY LIFE !!

Orbita Corporation, manufacturer of high quality American-made watchwinders for automatic watches, has unveiled a new and extremely powerful "D" cell battery for their watchwinders based on highly advanced Lithium chemistry.  Pound for pound, these new cells are the most powerful and reliable, lead-free RoHS compliant, batteries available anywhere, delivering unrivaled performance and extended operating life.  Interchangeable in size with standard Alkaline "D" cell batteries, their high energy design provides an output voltage of 3.6 VDC, more than double the voltage of conventional 1.5 VDC batteries.

The impetus for Orbita making the sizeable development investment that was required to bring this battery to market was the need to extend the service life of Orbita's battery-powered watchwinders.  Chuck Agnoff, Orbita's founder, stated, "Expensive watches on watchwinders are frequently stored in safes or vaults and the normal three to six month battery life of conventional alkaline batteries necessitates frequent and expensive replacement."  The project goal was to develop a battery that would provide a minimum of five years service life and as Agnoff quipped, "We not only made that happen, we even threw in a few extra years of power reserve.  The trick was to employ two Lithium batteries in parallel, doubling their normal power density, and coupling them to our Swiss-designed ironless core drive motors which draw minuscule current when in operation."  Orbita will soon include Lithium batteries with each battery-operated Sparta series watchwinder as standard equipment.  Most importantly, Orbita fully guarantees the five years of service life and will replace any batteries that fail during that period.

Lithium-based batteries are being employed in many new applications where their astounding power and durability is required.  In face, larger size Lithium batteries are already in use in hybrid automobiles and other power-hungry applications.  Orbita plans to expand their present line of Sparta watchwinders to fully take advantage of this space-age development.  Initial deliveries will take place in late 2008 with several new Lithium powered Sparta watchwinder models to be introduced in early 2009.