Driving to Your Prospect – The Pre-GPS Edition

You get so used to some technology just being there, it makes you wonder how you’d ever do without it.

That certainly holds true for GPS and other navigational aids.

I mean, think about it. You may clock 20,000 miles a year on your way to meetings with prospects and new clients. How much more difficult would those trips have been without some sort of navigational assistance while you’re driving?

We all know the tools – a built-in or portable GPS, directions on your cell phone with Dial Directions or Google SMS, or even as simple as a set of printed MapQuest directions to help you find your way.

Well, one thing’s for certain – 80 years ago they didnt have any of that. So how the heck did those people find their way?

The answer? With the original Sat-Nav Wristwatch!

Invented in 1920, the original Sat-Nav wristwatch relied instead on good old fashioned paper maps wound around wooden rollers.

You’d drive – and as your trip progressed, you’d unwind your directions. I bet these traveling salesmen never lost their way! Pretty clever stuff.

It was intended to allow drivers to navigate around the UK but with so few cars on the roads the invention never really took off.

You can see this – and many other inventions at the Business and IP Centre at the British Library in London.