The Swatch Group Ltd.
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- See also: swatch (disambig)
The Swatch Group Ltd. is a Swiss company among the biggest watch manufacturer in the world (about 25% of the sales). It owns some of the most famous and fine brands of watch of the history of watchmaking (Breguet, Jacquet-Droz). It was formed in 1983 through the merging of the two Swiss watch manufacturers ASUAG and SSIH, and took its present name in 1998 (formerly SMH Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries Ltd).
In 2003, gross sales were 3.983 billion CHF. The Swatch groups employs 20000 collaborators.
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History
The Swatch Group formed from two financially troubled predecessor companies. SSIH originated in 1930 with the merger of the Omega and Tissot companies. Swiss watch quality was high, but new technology such as the Hamilton Electric watch introduced in 1957 and the Bulova Accutron tuning fork watch introduced in 1961 presaged increasing high technology competition.
In the late 1970's SSIH became insolvent due in part to a recession and in part to heavy competition from inexpensive Asian made quartz crystal watches. These difficulties occurred even though it had become Switzerland's largest and the world's third largest producer of watches. Its creditor banks assumed control in 1981. ASUAG, formed in 1931, included the Longines and Rado brands. ASUAG was the world's largest producer of watch movements but failed similarly in 1982. SSIH and ASUAG were reorganized and merged into ASUAG-SSIH Holding Company in 1983, then taken private by CEO Nicholas Hayek in 1985, and renamed SMH in 1986, and ultimately Swatch Group in 1998.
The launch of the new Swatch brand in 1983 was marked by bold new styling and design. The quartz watch was redesigned for manufacturing efficiency and fewer parts. This combination of marketing and manufacturing expertise restored Switzerland as a major player in the world wristwatch market.
Brands
The Swatch Group owns several companies which do research (Asulab, EM Microelectronic-Marin ), produce movements (ETA, Valjoux, F. Piguet), and numerous watch brands, including:
High-range manufactures
- Blancpain [1] (http://www.blancpain.ch/)
- Breguet [2] (http://www.breguet.fr)
- Glashütte Original [3] (http://www.glashuette.de/)
- Jacquet-Droz [4] (http://www.jaquet-droz.com)
Middle-range manufactures
- Hamilton
- Leon Hatot [5] (http://www.leonhatot.ch/)
- Longines [6] (http://www.longines.com/)
- Omega [7] (http://www.omegawatches.com/)
- Rado [8] (http://www.rado.com/)
- Union Glashütte [9] (http://www.glashuette.de)
Low-range manufactures
- Balmain [10] (http://www.balmainwatches.com/)
- Calvin & Klein
- Certina [11] (http://www.certina.com/)
- Mido [12] (http://www.mido.ch/)
- Tissot [13] (http://www.tissot.ch/)
Swatch range
- Flik Flak
- Swatch
Internet Time and New Technologies
In 1998, Swatch invented "Swatch Internet Time", intended as a global timesystem, which divides the day into 1000 "beats" in a single worldwide timezone.
In October 2004, Swatch introduced its first smart watch, the Paparazzi, based on Microsoft Corporation's SPOT (smart personal objects technology) technology.
Ventures
In 1994, Swatch entered into a joint venture with Daimler-Chrysler to produce the Smart Car, but they later withdrew from this project.
External links
- Official site of the Swatch Group (http://www.swatchgroup.com/home.php)
- Swatch line website (http://www.swatch.com)
- All the latest news and infos from the world of swatch collecting (http://swatch.home.pages.de)
- A Swatch retail website (http://www.planetwatches.co.uk/Swatch_Watches.html)
- Yahoo! - The Swatch Group Ltd. Company Profile (http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/91/91992.html)
- Swiss Watch History (http://www.libertyhaven.com/countriesandregions/swiss/marketstime.shtml)nl:Swatch