Watchmaking in the 20th Century

20th century watchmaking was shaken by a vast movement that profoundly transformed the face of the global industry: first with the development of wristwatches, proudly displayed on wrists, then with the advent of the quartz watch and the mass production of electronic timepieces, at the expense of Switzerland’s traditional mechanical industry (this would be known as the “quartz crisis”). It would take until the very end of the millennium for the mechanical watch, particularly through the chronograph, to restore the Swiss watchmaking industry to its former glory. Discover now the history of watchmaking during this period.

The Wristwatch, Birth Certificate of 20th Century Watchmaking

If one had to pinpoint the precise moment of the birth of 20th century watchmaking, it would certainly be at the instant of the modern wristwatch’s appearance. It was to meet a specific request from his aviator friend, Alberto Santos-Dumont, that watchmaker Louis Cartier (in association with Hans Wilsdorf) designed a watch intended to be worn solely on the wrist, so that the pilot could check the time without having to pull his chronograph from his pocket. This occurred in 1904, nearly a century after Abraham-Louis Breguet manufactured the first bracelet incorporating a timepiece, offered to the Queen of Naples (and nearly two and a half centuries after Blaise Pascal had the idea of attaching his pocket watch around his wrist with a string). But this time, when the Santos model was commercialized starting in 1911, the watchmaking world was ready to replace the famous pocket watch, the preferred fashion accessory for men until the end of the First World War. However, the first models primarily resonated with women, and less as a precise time-measuring instrument than as an accessory. For men, it would take the masculinization process of the wristwatch by the military (and notably aviators) for the object to cease being considered outlandish and effeminate.

The Need for Precision and the Quartz Clock Revolution

The history of watchmaking is also one of an increasingly refined quest for precision. It was with this in mind that, following the Curies’ discoveries on the piezoelectric effect of quartz, Americans Warren Morrison and J.W. Horton developed the first quartz clock in 1928; due to the properties of this stone, their clock was infinitely more reliable than mechanical systems – with an accuracy of about one-thousandth of a second per day. With the progressive miniaturization of quartz movements, the Japanese industry managed to present a first model of quartz watch in 1969 – a watch that uses a quartz oscillator set in motion by electrical stimulation. This was thanks to the Seiko company, already known for producing Japan’s first pocket chronograph. Research in this field continued with the development of atomic clocks, starting in 1947. These clocks rely on the immutability of the electron’s electromagnetic radiation to guarantee the accuracy of the oscillating signal; these instruments can thus impose reference time scales across the planet (“International Atomic Time”). Another novelty – or rather a development – directly stems from this quest for precision characteristic of 20th century watchmaking: the rise of the chronograph. The watch equipped with a complication allowing the measurement of an event’s duration using an additional hand experienced its heyday in the first part of the century. Omega was the emblematic brand from this era, manufacturing chronographs used for sports timing during the Olympic Games; but Longines and Heuer can also be cited, dominating the scene before the Second World War. (Note that the difference between a chronograph and a chronometer is a matter of precision; a chronometer must necessarily have obtained a certificate from the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute.)

Switzerland, the Quartz Crisis, and the Birth of Swatch

While watchmaking mechanization from the United States since the mid-19th century did not cripple the Swiss industry, which adapted to new market conditions, the 20th century caused it many troubles. The earthquake of the Great American Depression caused ripples even on the Old Continent; in Switzerland, the watch industry was still dominated by family businesses, too small, hit hard by the economic crisis. Component manufacturers, in particular, soon found themselves in great danger, to the extent that the Confederation had to partner with banks to found a holding company aimed at bringing together these artisans, without whom the industry could not survive (they are the ones who manufacture balance wheels, hairsprings, and other watch jewels). But the real storm arrived later, during the 1970s. The advent of the quartz watch allowed Japanese industries to flood the market with electronic timepieces offered at unbeatable prices. Americans followed suit, prioritizing the appetite for quantity over the need for quality. The “quartz crisis” shook the Swiss watchmaking empire, which was stubbornly clinging to a high-end but costly artisanal approach, so much so that it threatened to collapse. In 5 years, the market share of Swiss manufacturers plummeted from 50% to… 5%! Fortunately, 20th century watchmaking saw the emergence of its own geniuses; these were no longer major inventors like Breguet or Jaquet-Droz, but rather brilliant businessmen, capable of reading the market’s thoughts. This was the case for Nicolas Hayek, a Lebanese-born Swiss citizen who, in the early 1980s, was asked to analyze the causes of the downfall. The creation of Swatch stemmed from this particularly severe audit: with this timepiece that combined quality, speed of manufacture, and reduced labor costs, Hayek literally saved the national industry and allowed Switzerland to happily emerge from the quartz crisis.

After Quartz: Return to Mechanical

Despite the predominance of Japanese quartz watches, whose market for the first time surpassed that of mechanical watches in 1982, the Swiss industry emerged from the crisis thanks to Nicolas Hayek and his millions of Swatches sold worldwide. Like all mechanical complications, chronographs suffered from this evolution: with the digital watches of the 1980s readily incorporating a chronograph function at reduced prices, buyers abandoned the more qualitative, more artisanal, but also much more expensive models. In the 2000s, however, there was a strong return of mechanical watchmaking within the Swiss watch industry, which successfully repositioned itself in the luxury sector. The chronograph embodies this revival: sales figures rose from 1 million units in 1990, to 4.2 million in 2000, and then to 5.3 million in 2010. After the quartz crisis and the pitched battle of the quartz watch, Swiss manufacturers refocused on craftsmanship. They intelligently managed to transform the timepiece object into a luxury, tradition, and fashion product all at once, highlighting Swiss savoir-faire as a symbol of prestige inaccessible to the majority. Certainly, the Swiss watch industry no longer dominates in terms of market share; but it remains first in terms of market value.