You can read it through Google. When you cut the spin in these articles, Swiss watch sources always sound so insular and isolated. It’s as though they never look over the border to France, Germany or Italy. This sort of sharing and collaboration has been going on for years there and in many industries. That’s what other makers will have to do if Swatch pull the plug, and IMO, I think this is a reasonable and good thing.
I look at Bosch and I see a company that does in fact, supply so much gear to other businesses, with the expressed wish to play a part in their success. Its good business for them and it gives them space to innovate, bring ideas to the market and on-sell it to others to make what they will of it. If Swatch don’t want to play in that pool in the future, then it’s their decision. I think it’s a mistake, but at least they won’t be a monopoly on Swiss watch movements in the future. That’s a good thing.
It’s a good time for other makers to either collaborate (Calibre 11 comes to mind) and achieve economies of scale themselves by sharing movement designs, or they look to other markets to fulfil their needs (as long as they don’t go below 60% Swiss made to retain the SM signing). No doubt the discussion on this in the future will be full of excuses why this will be hard to achieve and there will be warnings on supply and cost increases to secure scarce parts of existing movements, etc. But all that aside, it’s remarkable how easy it has been for makers to buy from one supplier up till now. Looks like irony to me.
Who knows, perhaps another supplier may come to the aid of makers left without supply and a new chapter of Swiss Watch History will be written that includes someone other than Swatch!
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