![]() ![]() His idea was to unite the brands of the two largest watch groups (ASUAG and SSIH) under one strong umbrella brand and to develop a new watch collection offering Swiss quality at a low price. Hayek, who once described himself as an impatient dreamer, found two ways out of the crisis. Nobody? Still one of the great strengths of Seiko, here in form of the quartz caliber 9F82 ©Grand Seiko Swatch – Highest Swiss Quality at the lowest PriceĪt the beginning of the 1980s, Swiss banks commissioned management consultant Nicolas George Hayek to analyze the seemingly hopeless situation. After a long battle against price erosion and image loss, the watch industry in Switzerland was practically on the brink of collapse at the end of the 1970s. Despite or precisely because of this innovation, year after year the red figures were going downhill. Among others, Omega, Rolex and Patek Phillipe used the so-called Beta 21 movement at that time, but there were no sales worth mentioning. It’s a paradox: one of the world’s first quartz movements was manufactured by a Swiss watchmaker consortium as early as the early seventies. Also the Swiss quartz watches turned out to be expensive shopkeepers, which could only be sold with a lot of effort and at heavily discounted prices. Seiko centers sprang up everywhere, while Swiss made mechanical watches were suddenly considered imprecise and overpriced. The designation of origin “Swiss made” was suddenly worthless and dusty. Thanks to ultra-modern production, they were of solid quality. The Japanese also presented their watches in a young, fresh and cheeky manner. “Seiko Quartz Astron”, the nemesis of the Swiss watch industry, exhibited at the Seiko Museum in Tokyo. “Quartz precise”, a characteristic that the inexpensive watches from the Far East mastered with flying colors. Simultaneously, the company invented a completely new marketing strategy for its industrially manufactured products, focusing on the aspect of accuracy instead of craftmanship and vertical integration. In 1969, the Japanese watchmaker Seiko launched his first commercially marketed quartz wristwatch called “Astron”. Seiko quartz watches from Japan flood the world Until the early seventies, the situation was comfortable but doomed to tragically change. ![]() 90,000 people worked directly or indirectly for the watch industry. Even then, Swiss watches were synonymous with perfection, craftsmanship and quality. Production was carried out in state-controlled small enterprises, most of the work was done by hand and with simple but proven machines. There was practically no competition, and the technical and craftsmanship lead was too great. But what exactly was the quartz crisis and how did Switzerland save itself from the demise of its most valuable industry? The monopolyĪt the beginning of the 20th century and until well after the Second World War, 95 % of all mechanical watches sold worldwide came from Switzerland. Within 13 years, the crisis cost around two-thirds of the industry’s employees their jobs and fueled great fears of survival. The so-called “quartz crisis” affected the entire watch industry and almost brought it to it to its knees. In the 1970s and 1980s, Switzerland suffered from the worst economic crisis in its history. Released as a limited-edition (Swatch recognized the power of scarcity early-even for a $30 watch) the Jellyfish’s blend of futuristic design and affordability made it an international hit and earned it a place in the MoMa’s permanent collection.The Swiss watch industry of the seventies – Expulsion from paradise Part of Swatch’s first-ever watch collection, the Jellyfish had a transparent plastic case that proudly displayed its inexpensive quartz movement, with a matching clear silicone strap. With its bright primary colors and clean lines, the Clearly may look like textbook Swatch (and it is), but it’s also the latest evolution of the brand’s first big hit design, the Jellyfish, from 1983. You don’t need a bottomless savings account, however, to afford one of the coolest see-through watches ever made thanks to the new Swatch Clearly collection. ![]() Other brands from Bell & Ross to Chanel have since jumped on the full-sapphire trend with a wild array of designs, but aside from their transparency all of these watches have tend to have a couple of things in common: price tags well into six-figure territory and highly limited availability. What makes this Big Bang so special is the fact that it’s the first timepiece with a case and bracelet milled from sapphire crystal-a distinction which also makes it the world’s first completely see-through luxury watch. The Hublot Big Bang Integral Tourbillon Full Sapphire was one of the craziest watch drops of 2021, but that had little to do with its complex micro-rotor tourbillon movement or its $422,000 price.
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