I've just finished reading A Business History of the Swatch Group by Pierre-Yves Donzé. Actually, I read it twice in quick succession. I'm honestly stunned that I never heard about this book until a few weeks ago, even if it is fairly recent (2014). Clearly, Amazon could be doing more to identify go
I've just finished reading
A Business History of the Swatch Group by
Pierre-Yves Donzé. Actually, I read it twice in quick succession. I'm honestly stunned that I never heard about this book until a few weeks ago, even if it is fairly recent (2014). Clearly, Amazon could be doing more to identify good recommendations! Regardless, I really enjoyed this book so I thought I would share my thoughts.
First, it is noteworthy for being one of the most recent history books written on the Swiss watch industry, and covers the time period up to 2010. I found this coverage particularly valuable since it overlaps well with my personal experience, having been into watches since around 2007. The book itself appears to have begun as an academic paper, and as such parts of it have been published in various academic journals. I don't know much about the author except what I read in his bio:
"Pierre-Yves Donzé is associate professor and hakubi scholar at Kyoto University. where he obtained his PhD in 2005, before doing stints as a visiting researcher in Japan and in the United States. He has published extensively on the watch industry and was awarded the prestigious Gaïa Prize in 2011."
The author also has another book about the history of the Swiss watch industry that I will be reading soon.
Now, on to the content. There were a few ideas that really stood out to me, and which are well constructed in the book:
- Quartz was not the cause of the crisis. The author highlights Seiko's pioneering application of mass production methods to the manufacture of high-quality mechanical watches. This contrasts with a bifurcated system in Switzerland, where mass production methods were applied to the manufacture of low quality (often pin lever) watches, while high quality watches were produced using legacy production systems that did not adequately employ mass production techniques. The author mentions that Rolex was an exception. This culminates in Seiko's domination of the 1968 Geneva Observatory competition, and the mass production of high-precision mechanical watches at low prices (an effect enhanced by the currency fluctuations of the 1970s, during which time the Yen was pegged to the dollar while the cost of Swiss watches in the US rose substantially). The author argues that this is the process that most significantly eroded Swiss market share, and it wasn't until a few years later that the volume of Quartz watch production was sufficient to amplify this effect. The author presents a good deal of data and charts to support this timeline.
- The consolidation of ASUAG and SSIH in 1983-1990 was something new for the industry. While there were numerous groups of manufacturers and brands since at least the 1930s, these were typically focussed on streamlining distribution. Never before had production been so intentionally or so aggressively centralized and consolidated for a group of brands.
- The Swatch's role in the resurrection of the Swiss watch industry is over-hyped. While SMH certainly benefited from the new revenue stream, the volume was not the saving grace that it is sometimes made out to be. I don't have the book in front of me right now, but there is an interesting analysis of the group's revenues at this time that is fairly convincing.
- Watch marketing was not globalized until the 1990s. The lessons learned from the Swatch and other consumer brands were first applied to the luxury watch industry around this time.
- There was a tipping point when the production consolidation strategy shifted to allow for increasing decentralization to suit marketing purposes aimed at positioning certain brands along attributes such as technical expertise and authenticity. This is what allowed for the production of the ETA (Omega) 8500 in 2007, for example.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I'd say it is an absolute must as a fairly general history of the watch industry since the crisis, and certainly a must for those who love Omega, since the book delves into Omega's repositioning as a luxury brand in the mid-90s. The book is written from a very detached academic viewpoint, which is a breath of fresh air among watch literature that's usually written by PR teams. As such, there is some interesting information about ETA's production facilities in Asia, which are largely absent from Swatch Group's communications, and a lot of very interesting information and helpful dates about when certain production facilities closed, when other opened, etc.
I think this book is an excellent companion for The Technique and History of the Swiss Watch by Eugene Jaquet and Alfred Chapuis, which covers the industry up until about 1970.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Brandon
