Defining Swiss Made

[GC 4,534]

Defining Swiss Made

 

by Anthony Young

 

 

Over the past several years, the true meaning of Swiss Made on a watch dial has periodically made for lengthy discussions in watch journals and on websites. But for decades, at least until the 1980s, this simple phrase was seemingly self-evident and unquestioned.

The Swiss watch manufacturers and their supporting industries of movement makers, manufacturers of cases, crowns, dials, hands, crystals, straps and bracelets—virtually any component that went into a Swiss watch—for hundreds of years were all based in Switzerland. And every one of these watches had at the bottom of its dial the words Swiss Made. Most consumers safely assumed that such a watch, and every part in it, was indeed made near an Alp.

Today, this assumption is dressed in caveats. While virtually all top-tier Swiss brands are truly 100 percent made in Switzerland with Swiss-sourced parts, certain brands with models below, say, $1,500, include components made outside of Switzerland, primarily in Asian countries.

And yet, their dials read Swiss Made.

Why? They can maintain this dial signature because they are biding by the letter of the law.

The law is monitored by the Swiss watch industry organization, Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, or just FH for short, based in Biel/Bienne. Over the past several years, this organization has been busy clarifying the meaning of Swiss Made, and lately, redefining it under pressure from many of the watch companies it represents. The complaints making their way to the ears of the FH are that these low-priced watches are passing themselves off as Swiss Made when many of the parts are made and certain phases of manufacture are performed in the Far East.

 

History

Before defining Swiss Made as it currently exists, let’s briefly look at the Swiss watch industry of fifty years ago.

In 1960 there were hundreds of Swiss watch brands and cottage industries that supported those brands. There were manufacturers of movements, cases, dials and hands at all price points. The Swiss watch industry was strong due to its virtual dominance in the worldwide watch market. Even very small companies could supply parts and many could even manufacture complete watches.

But the combined forces of economic recession in the 1970s and the rise of quartz watches in the 1980s devastated the Swiss watch industry. Many of these vital suppliers went out of business and never returned.

There was also a phase of consolidation where, for example, independent movement makers were acquired by larger conglomerates as a means of survival. Once-familiar movement brands, such as A. Schild, Unitas, and Venus, for example, were absorbed and basically vanished as larger companies acquired the movement designs and tooling.

 

Defining Swiss Made

The Swiss Federal Council legally codified and defined a Swiss watch and a Swiss movement in December 1971. However, the definition was vague to the point where someone looking for a loophole could easily find it. For example, the movement could be cased—basically the watch could actually be assembled—outside of Switzerland and the dial could still read Swiss Made.

 

 

full article here: http://www.iwmagazine.com/current_issue_de...m/ArticleID/681

[pollux1 3]

I recall reading somewhere that a watch has to have around fifty percent of its parts Made In Switzerland to be called Swiss Made. This doesn't take into account where the watch was assembled iirc.