The Industry of Swiss Watches

The Industry of

Historically, the Swiss watches and clock industry has always had a specialized

horizontal structure in which suppliers, craftsmen and sub-contractors supply

movements and external parts to assemblers called "établisseurs", who put the

final product together. However, to a lesser extent, the industry of Swiss watches

has also developed a vertically integrated structure in which watches and clocks

are sometimes made entirely by the same company, in this case called a

"manufacture".

During the 1970s and early 1980s, technological upheavals (appearance of the

quartz technology) and the difficult economic situation resulted in a reduction in

the size of the industry of Swiss watches : the number of employees fell from some

90,000 in 1970 to a little over 30,000 in 1984, a figure which has remained stable

over the last thirteen years (40,000 employees in 2004) while the number of

companies decreased from about 1,600 in 1970 to about 600 now.

The average number of employees per company has remained constant, at just under

70 people per company in 2004, as in 1970. The great majority of Swiss watches

companies are small sized companies (employing less than 100 people) while a very

little number (less than 10) are each employing over 500 people.

One of the great strengths of the Swiss watches and clock industry, by comparison

with its foreign competitors, is its ability to offer the consumer a genuinely

comprehensive choice of products.

Do you prefer a diamond-set watch of precious metal or one made of stainless

steel, wood, plastic or even high tech ceramic ?

Whatever you want, you will always find something to satisfy you among the

products of the Swiss watches industry. And if you prefer an alarm or other type

of clock to a wristwatch, you will have difficulty in choosing from amongst the

vast range of models offered by the Swiss manufacturers of this type of product.

While the Swiss watches industry is present all over the world (it exports nearly

95% of its production), it does not carry equal weight everywhere.

Asia and Oceania take 44% of Swiss watches exports in value, Europe 34%, Americas

21% and Africa 1%...and the top fifteen countries represent over 82 % of these exports.

With their worldwide reputation for quality and styling, Swiss watches are not

however the only ones to compete for the favours of customers. They have many

competitors in the markets, the most serious of these being the Japanese and Hong

Kong producers.

According to a number of economic analysts, the Swiss watches industry was

moribond in the middle of the 1970s, having missed out the electronic revolution

and being strongly affected by the economic crisis.

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