The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 by the merger of
ASUAG
Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG; French: ''Société Générale de l'Horlogerie Suisse SA'') was the former biggest Swiss Watch Industry Group that had been created with the assistance of the Swiss Government and the Swiss Banks ...
and
SSIH to move to manufacturing
quartz-crystal watches to resolve the
quartz crisis
The quartz crisis was the upheaval in the watchmaking industry caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, that largely replaced mechanical watches around the world. threatening the traditional Swiss watchmaking industry.
The Swatch Group is the world's largest watch company and employs about 36,000 people in 50 countries. The group owns the
Swatch
Swatch is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in which i ...
product line and other brands, including
Blancpain
Blancpain SA () is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switze ...
,
Breguet,
Certina
Certina S.A. is a Swiss Made, Swiss watch brand founded in Grenchen in 1888 by Adolf and Alfred Kurth, whereas unrelated Certina Holding AG is a German industrial conglomerate, founded by Hans Wehrmann. It is currently part of the Swatch Gr ...
,
ETA
Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
,
Glashütte Original
Glashütte Original is a German producer of luxury watches founded in 1994 by the privatization of VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe (GUB), an East German conglomerate formed in 1951 from the watch companies based in Glashütte. Glashütte Original ...
,
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
,
Harry Winston
Harry Winston (March 1, 1896December 8, 1978) was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1963 in exchang ...
,
Longines
Compagnie des Montres Longines, Francillon S.A., or simply Longines (), is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832, the company has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group and its predec ...
,
Mido,
Omega
Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...
,
Rado, and
Tissot
Tissot SA () is a Swiss watchmaker. The company was founded in Le Locle, Switzerland by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son, Charles-Émile Tissot, in 1853. After several mergers and name changes, the group which Tissot SA belonged to was renam ...
.
History
SSIH
SSIH (
Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère
Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère (SSIH) is a former group of Swiss watchmakers comprising the brands Omega, Tissot and Lemania.
History
SSIH was created on February 24, 1930 in Geneva by Tissot and Omega, to be joined in 1932 by Lema ...
), originated in 1930 with the merger of the
Omega
Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...
and
Tissot
Tissot SA () is a Swiss watchmaker. The company was founded in Le Locle, Switzerland by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son, Charles-Émile Tissot, in 1853. After several mergers and name changes, the group which Tissot SA belonged to was renam ...
companies. Swiss watch quality was high, but new technology, such as the
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
Electric watch introduced in 1957 and the
Bulova
Bulova is an American timepiece manufacturing company that was founded in 1875 and has been owned by Japanese multinational conglomerate Citizen Watch Co. since 2008. The company makes watches, clocks and accessories, and it is based in New York ...
Accutron tuning fork watch in 1961, presaged increasing technological competition.
In the late 1970s, 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
ASUAG (
Allgemeine Gesellschaft der Schweizerischen Uhrenindustrie
Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG; French: ''Société Générale de l'Horlogerie Suisse SA'') was the former biggest Swiss Watch Industry Group that had been created with the assistance of the Swiss Government and the Swiss Banks ...
), formed in 1931, was the world's largest producer of watch movements and the parts thereof (
balance wheel
A balance wheel, or balance, is the timekeeping device used in mechanical watches and small clocks, analogous to the pendulum in a pendulum clock. It is a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, being returned toward its center position by a ...
s,
balance spring
A balance spring, or hairspring, is a spring attached to the balance wheel in mechanical timepieces. It causes the balance wheel to oscillate with a resonant frequency when the timepiece is running, which controls the speed at which the wheels of ...
s (spiral), assortments, watch stones ("rubis"). ASUAG had also integrated an array of watch brands in 1972 into a sub-holding company,
General Watch Co
General Watch Co. (GWC) was the watch companies holding of ASUAG.
History
ASUAG had been founded in 1931, with the assistance of the Swiss government and the Swiss banks, to combat the severe economic crisis and ensuing unemployment by means of ...
. ASUAG failed similarly in 1982.
The Swatch Group
ASUAG/SSIH was formed in 1983 from the two financially troubled predecessor companies, ASUAG and SSIH.
Taken private in 1985 by then-CEO
Nicolas Hayek
Nicolas George Hayek (19 February 1928 – 28 June 2010), was a Swiss businessman of Lebanese descent, and the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of The Swatch Group.
Early life and education
Hayek was born the second of three children, ...
, with the understanding of the Swiss banks and the financial assistance of a group of Swiss private investors (in particular
Stephan Schmidheiny
Stephan Ernst Schmidheiny (born 29 October 1947) is a Swiss entrepreneur, philanthropist and advocate of sustainable development. In 2019, his net worth was estimated by Forbes to be $2.3 billion. He's also well known for being convicted over his ...
and
Esther Grether), it was renamed
SMH (Société de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie) in 1986, and ultimately Swatch Group Ltd in 1998.
The "
swatch
Swatch is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in which i ...
" brand of watch was launched in 1983, by the
ETA SA
ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse (ETA SA Swiss Watch Manufacturer) designs and manufactures quartz watches and both hand-wound and automatic-winding mechanical and movements. Commonly referred to as ETA, the company is headquartered in Gren ...
CEO
Ernst Thomke
Ernst Thomke (born 21 April 1939) is a Swiss physician and watchmaker. Training first as a mechanic, he later acquired the Swiss federal maturity degree and pursued academic studies whilst in employment.
Early life and education
Thomke was born ...
and his engineers. The quartz watch was redesigned for manufacturing efficiency and fewer parts, and the styling and design were updated.
Brands
Over the years, the Swatch Group acquired various watchmaking companies, including
Blancpain S. A. (founded 1735, bought by Swatch in 1992),
Breguet S. A. (founded 1775, bought in 1999), and
Glashütte Original
Glashütte Original is a German producer of luxury watches founded in 1994 by the privatization of VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe (GUB), an East German conglomerate formed in 1951 from the watch companies based in Glashütte. Glashütte Original ...
(Germany, bought in 2000). The company continued to produce watches under these names.
HW Holding Inc., owner of
Harry Winston, Inc., an American jewellery and luxury watch company, was acquired on 26 March 2013 for 711 million
Swiss franc
The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...
s.
Nayla Hayek
Nayla Hayek (born 1951) is a Swiss heiress, businesswoman and horse breeder. She is the chair of The Swatch Group and CEO of its subsidiary, the jeweler Harry Winston.
Early life
Hayek is the daughter of Lebanese-born Swiss businessman Nicolas Ha ...
became the CEO. The company bought the world's biggest flawless blue diamond,
The Winston Blue, on 15 May 2014.
The following list includes the brands owned by the Swatch Group:
*
Balmain
*
Blancpain
Blancpain SA () is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switze ...
*
Breguet
*
Certina
Certina S.A. is a Swiss Made, Swiss watch brand founded in Grenchen in 1888 by Adolf and Alfred Kurth, whereas unrelated Certina Holding AG is a German industrial conglomerate, founded by Hans Wehrmann. It is currently part of the Swatch Gr ...
*
Endura
* Flik Flak
*
Glashütte Original
Glashütte Original is a German producer of luxury watches founded in 1994 by the privatization of VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe (GUB), an East German conglomerate formed in 1951 from the watch companies based in Glashütte. Glashütte Original ...
*
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
*
Harry Winston
Harry Winston (March 1, 1896December 8, 1978) was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1963 in exchang ...
*
Jaquet Droz
* Léon Hatot
*
Longines
Compagnie des Montres Longines, Francillon S.A., or simply Longines (), is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832, the company has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group and its predec ...
*
Mido
*
Omega
Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...
* Rado
*
Swatch
Swatch is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in which i ...
* Swiss Timing
*
Tissot
Tissot SA () is a Swiss watchmaker. The company was founded in Le Locle, Switzerland by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son, Charles-Émile Tissot, in 1853. After several mergers and name changes, the group which Tissot SA belonged to was renam ...
*
Union Glashütte
Watch manufacturing
ETA movement
Swatch subsidiary
ETA SA
ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse (ETA SA Swiss Watch Manufacturer) designs and manufactures quartz watches and both hand-wound and automatic-winding mechanical and movements. Commonly referred to as ETA, the company is headquartered in Gren ...
, which is based in
Grenchen, Switzerland
Grenchen (french: Granges) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lebern (district), Lebern in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland.
It is located at the foot of the Jura m ...
, furnishes many
OEM
An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...
brands, such as
LVMH
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French holding multinational corporation and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of fashion house ...
(which markets
TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer S.A. ( ) is a Swiss luxury watchmaker that designs, manufactures and markets watches and fashion accessories, as well as eyewear and mobile phones manufactured under license by other companies and carrying the TAG Heuer brand name.
Th ...
,
Hublot
Hublot () is a Swiss luxury watchmaker founded in 1980 by Italian Carlo Crocco. The company operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the French luxury conglomerate LVMH.
History
A scion of the Italian Binda Group dynasty, best known for ...
and
Zenith watch lines) and
Richemont
Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., commonly known as Richemont, is a Switzerland-based luxury goods holding company founded in 1988 by South African businessman Johann Rupert. Through its various subsidiaries, Richemont produces and sells je ...
(which markets amongst others,
A. Lange & Söhne,
Baume & Mercier
Baume & Mercier () is a Swiss luxury watchmaker founded in 1830. It is a subsidiary of the Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont.
History
Baume & Mercier was founded as "Frères Baume" in 1830 by brothers Louis-Victor and Célestin Baume, who op ...
,
IWC Schaffhausen,
Jaeger-LeCoultre
Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre SA, or simply Jaeger-LeCoultre (), is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded by Antoine LeCoultre in 1833 and is based in Le Sentier, Switzerland. Since 2000, the company has been a fully owned subsidiary ...
,
Officine Panerai
Officine Panerai (also known simply as Panerai) is an Italian luxury watch manufacturer, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A.
Officine Panerai designs, manufactures and markets watches through authorized dealer ...
,
Piaget Piaget () may refer to:
People with the surname
* Édouard Piaget (18171910), a Swiss entomologist
* Jean Piaget (18961980), a Swiss developmental psychologist
* Paul Piaget (disambiguation), several people
* Solange Piaget Knowles (born 1986) ...
,
Roger Dubuis
Roger Dubuis is a Swiss watch manufacturer of luxury watches based in Geneva, Switzerland. The company was founded by Roger Dubuis and Carlos Dias in 1995.
In 2008, the company was acquired by Richemont group.
The Roger Dubuis watches include th ...
,
Vacheron Constantin
Vacheron Constantin SA () is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded in 1755. Since 1996, it has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont Group. Vacheron Constantin is the second oldest Swiss manufacturer and one of the oldest watch ...
).
Electronic systems
The Swatch Group Electronic System includes:
*''Belenos Clean Power AG''.
*
EM Microelectronic-Marin
EM Microelectronic, based in Marin, La Tène near Neuchâtel in Switzerland, is a developer and semiconductor manufacturer specialized in the design and production of ultra low power, low voltage integrated circuits for battery-operated and fie ...
: Designs and produces ultra-low power, low voltage mixed-signal integrated circuits,
LCD and modules. IC Product lines include RFID, microcontroller, smart card, ASIC, RTC, reset circuit, watchdog, LCD driver, opto ICs.
* Micro Crystal: produces miniature low power quartz crystals and small low power oscillators.
*
Renata: develops and produces micro batteries. Product lines include button cells and rechargeable (Lithium Polymer) batteries.
Swatch Internet Time
In 1998, Swatch invented "
Swatch Internet Time
Swatch Internet Time (or ) is a decimal time concept introduced in 1998 by the Swatch corporation as part of their marketing campaign for their line of "Beat" watches.
Instead of hours and minutes, the mean solar day is divided into 1,000 parts ...
", intended as a global time system, which divides the day into 1000 "beats" in a single worldwide
time zone
A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
.
In October 2004, Swatch introduced its first smart watch, the Paparazzi, based on
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
Corporation's SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology.)
Watchmaking school
The Swatch Group started offering their first class in the ''Nicolas G. Hayek Watchmaking School'' in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, in September 2005. There are other watchmaking schools in
Glashütte
Glashütte [] is a town in Saxony, Germany, known as the birthplace of the German watchmaking industry and has a population of about 7,000. Historically, it was first mentioned in a document circa 1445. In January 2008, the former municipality Re ...
, Germany;
Pforzheim
Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany.
It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...
, Germany;
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
, pushpin_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, su ...
, Malaysia; and
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, China.
Sponsorship
Sport and event timing
Swiss Timing, under brands such as Omega, Longines, and Tissot, provide timing services for sporting events such as
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
,
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
,
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
, and
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
events. In 2018 it was announced that The Swatch Group would hold its own watch fair in Zurich, during Baselworld 2019.
Ventures
In 1994, Swatch entered into a joint venture with Germany's
Daimler AG
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...
to produce the
''Smart'' car, but they later withdrew from this project.
Swatch subsidiary ''Belenos Clean Power AG'' entered into a joint venture with the Paul Scherrer Institut in May 2008 to develop a hydrogen fuel cell for a fuel cell powered car. Swatch began test drives of the car in Switzerland in 2012. However, the Swatch Group abandoned the project for a fuel-cell-powered car in June 2015, to concentrate instead on a new type of battery with high storage capacity.
See also
*
Quartz crisis
The quartz crisis was the upheaval in the watchmaking industry caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, that largely replaced mechanical watches around the world.
*
List of watch manufacturers
Watchmakers
This list is a duplicate of :Watchmakers, which will likely be more up-to-date and complete. Manufacturers that are named after the founder are sorted by surname. Names in this list require an article about the watch brand or watchma ...
References
Further reading
*
Ram Mudambi
Ram Mudambi is the Frank M. Speakman Professor of Strategy at the Fox School of Business and Management at Temple University. He has published over a hundred refereed journal articles and six books on the multinational strategies of entrepreneur ...
"Branding Time: Swatch and Global Brand Management"Temple University IGMS Case Series No. 05-001, January 2005
*
External links
*
The Nicolas G. Hayek Watchmaking School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swatch Group
Companies listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange
Swiss companies established in 1983
Manufacturing companies established in 1983
Holding companies established in 1983
Holding companies of Switzerland
Luxury brand holding companies
Multinational companies headquartered in Switzerland
Watch manufacturing companies of Switzerland
Watchmaking conglomerates