To explore an industry that has revived itself from near death to luminous health, you need to look no further than the Swiss watch industry. In the early 1980s, Swiss watchmaking became a dying art. The country that was once the world leader in the production of traditional mechanical mechanisms and watch cases, was on the verge of extinction. At that time, there was a threat from Japan and the introduction of quartz watches. Quartz watches were cheap. They could be produced with a small amount of fuss, about one tenth of the cost of traditional manual mechanical watches. And at that time, labor costs in Japan were much lower than in Switzerland. They, too, were accurate.
Many of the largest companies have slowly adapted. And many of them tried to do this by entering the market and trying to copy the Japanese. Even Rolex, a long-standing luxury brand in Switzerland, ultimately introduced quartz movements in its watches. But even this was not enough for most companies to remain competitive.
However, at that time there were two trends that became a turning point in the Swiss watch industry. The first was the development of Swatch. It was a breakthrough in watchmaking because he did away with the traditional case and much of the assembly needed to make a quartz watch, setting the movement directly on the back of the watch, and then sealing it. The appearance of Swatch made it possible to obtain highly mechanized production, which compensated for the high labor costs in Switzerland and allowed the country to make genuine Swiss watches, which were much cheaper than many made in Asia. Mass production methods also allowed for rapid innovation and style change, so that Swatch could produce watches in a variety of colors and patterns that could be changed during the season. This way of seeing clocks as practically disposable items that could be altered using clothing from all over the world allowed Swatch to sell the huge amounts of watches needed for support and industrial production.
Another trend was the creation of high-quality jewelry watches. Companies such as Blankain sold themselves on the grounds that they kept the centuries-old tradition of the craft alive and never accepted quartz movements. It was too slow, as manufacturers helped revive the watch movement. Many of them now have glass windows or cabinets that allow you to see the inner workings. Although these watches are less accurate than quartz, these watches have become symbols of fine craft and meticulous work. Possession of them becomes not just a symbol of status, but also a feeling that a person contributes to a centuries-old tradition.
