12C in 14 Masterpieces of Gadget Design

[Egan Ford]

http://techland.time.com/2012/05/21/photos-14-masterpieces-of-gadget-design/#hpcalculator

[Ethan Conner]

A classmate of mine went to Japan with her father on a business trip and brought home one of the first production run Sony Walkman. I don't believe they had gone on sale in the U.S. yet. She let us all listen to it and we were blown away. IIRC she said it cost her dad 200 dollars at the time.

[Dominic Richens]

Good list - includes the Leica M3 as well - mastery of mechanical design.

[Calum Tait]

Good to see the Voyager design recognised as a design classic. As and aside, I see they have the Braun Atelier radiogram there. I have watched over the last 5-6 years as Dieter Rams' designs have rocketed in popularity (and value). He also styled some lovely simple calculators for Braun. While not on the same level as HP scientifics these simple four bangers showed high regard for ergonomics, ease of use and elegance which modern calculator designers would do well to try and emulate.
www.retrothing.com/2009/12/perfecting-design-the-braun-et66-calculator.html

Edited: 28 July 2012, 8:45 p.m.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

HP Corvallis already did well and designed the Pioneer series with borrowings from the Braun design:-)

[Walter B]

Very true for the early set (27S, 42S, 32S). Alas, that discipline obviously faded with the 32SII later and got completely lost with the 33S :-(

[Raymond Del Tondo]

I'd like to add the 17B and the 17BII to the list.

Slightly OT: The 30b also has a very clean front side;-)

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

What about the Pulsar P1?

Motorola 3200?

I think these both deserve a mention *way* more than the 12C or the iPhone (but then I'm probably thinking more of milestones than masterpieces...)

[hpnut]

I would also rate the Omega Speedmaster chronograph as a classic design. It has changed very little since introduced in 1957!

[Raymond Del Tondo]

If we're at watches, I'd vote for the Rolex DateJust:-)

[Palmer O. Hanson, Jr.]

There is a Leica camera on the list. I suggest that the Argus C3 would have been a better choice. The article in Wikipedia states that it

Quote:

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was a low-priced rangefinder camera mass-produced from 1939 to 1966 by Argus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. The camera was the best-selling 35mm camera in the world for nearly three decades, and helped popularize the 35mm format.

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