Who died in the 70s and who was resusetated?

Bruce's little tidbit on Breitling got me thinking. Who died, who came back to life during the quartz invasion?

I know that Heuer either died or was on life support when Technique Avant Guard came on the scene and gave them new life. We know now that Breitling was a victim. Any others? Maybe we could pool our resources and knowledge here and have some really good history up here.

[BruceS]

Originally Posted by Atomic

Bruce's little tidbit on Breitling got me thinking. Who died, who came back to life during the quartz invasion?

I know that Heuer either died or was on life support when Technique Avant Guard came on the scene and gave them new life. We know now that Breitling was a victim. Any others? Maybe we could pool our resources and knowledge here and have some really good history up here.

I think Breguet was as well. That's a good topic John. Something to research on a slow day

I just pulled this off forbes.com as a starter...

Once wristwatches did catch on, however, there seemed no stopping them or their technological advances. The first chronographs appeared in 1909, the first date watches in 1912, and waterproof watches surfaced in 1915, encouraged by the military necessities of World War I. Indeed, the Allied armored combat vehicles that defended France during the Great War inspired Louis Cartier's famous Tank Watch, the first examples of which were presented to American Gen. John J. Pershing. Rolex patented its first "Oyster" watch with a waterproof case and screw-in crown in 1926, and garnered exceptional publicity the following year when a long-distance swimmer wore one, without damage, while stroking across the English Channel.

Self-winding watches began relieving the burden of winding in 1932, and the world's first electric watch--a Hamilton Ventura--became an instant hit in 1957. When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon in 1969 with an Omega Speedmaster-Chronograph on his wrist, there were some 1,600 watchmakers in Switzerland, the Detroit of the industry. Yet time stopped shortly thereafter with the appearance of cheap quartz technology. In the upheaval that followed throughout the 1970s, many classic old-line watchmakers went bankrupt and shut down, while the Swiss government rushed in to save what it could. In the end, employment in the Swiss watch industry dropped from 90,000 in 1970 to just over 30,000 in 1984. These days there are around 650 watchmakers in Switzerland, with some 40,000 employees between them.

Though close to 90% of all watches manufactured worldwide have quartz movements, a quality mechanical watch is the way to go. That's something that has only recently begun to dawn on many Americans. "In Europe you'll see street sweepers with $5,000 watches, whereas CEOs in the U.S. will be happy with $20 quartzes," says InSync's Strandberg. "We just don't have the same tradition of fine watches here."

[padi56]

Just as VHS video killed off Betamax, the quartz boom of the late 1960s and early 1970s killed most of the Swiss watch making industry, faster than you can say Seiko.By the time the dust had settled,more than half of Geneva's watch manufacturers had gone under.And only about a third
of the Swiss industry was left these were Longines,Hamilton,Tissot,Rado
Blancpain,Omega plus a few other minor brands.Most of these were put into a publicly owned group to avoid bankruptcy.But this fate will not happen to Rolex,old Hans was a very clever bugger,and in the companies
history it had only two managers Wilsdorf and André Heiniger. So they really did not have to worry to much about there quarterly returns etc.
So Rolex made its own Quartz to take on the Japs at there own game.But even then the new quartz models was only about 5% of total sales,and today less than 2%.IMO if Rolex had gone completely quartz at this time,
don't think they would have survived to have the marketing,and brand prestige it enjoys today.

[BruceS]

Originally Posted by padi56

Just as VHS video killed off Betamax, the quartz boom of the late 1960s and early 1970s killed most of the Swiss watch making industry, faster than you can say Seiko.By the time the dust had settled,more than half of Geneva's
watch manufacturers had gone under.And only about a third of the Swiss
industry was left these were Longines,Hamilton,Tissot,Rado Blancpain,Omega
plus a few other minor brands.Most of these were put into a publicly owned group to avoid bankruptcy.But this fate will not happen to Rolex, old Hans
was a very clever bugger,and in the companies history it had only two managers Wilsdorf and André Heiniger. So they really did not have to worry
to much about there quarterly returns etc.So Rolex made its own Quartz to
take on the Japs at there own game.But even then the new quartz models
was only about 5% of total sales,and today less than 2%.IMO if Rolex had
gone completely quartz at this time, don't think they would have survived to have the marketing,and brand prestige it enjoys today.

I definately agree with you Peter wrt Rolex sticking with mechanical during the tough times. Also the fact that they are family owned gave them an edge.

[Uncle-AJ]

Video killed the radio star.