The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi All!

Came across this book titled WRISTWATCHES by Gisbert L. Brunner & Christian Pfeifer-Belli; 3rd edition. I have had the book for over a decade but just newly rediscovered it while looking for something else. lol As a result their might be a 4th or even 5th edition by now.

In the glossary I found this to be interesting and wanted to share with you:

Swiss Made: Indication of orgin on dial and/or movement of a Swiss watch. A wristwatch may bear this inscription only if the movement was assembled, set into motion, regulated and tested by the manufacturer in Switzerland. In addition, atleast 50% of the value of all its components (not counting the cost of assembly) must come from Swiss factories. Also, the watch must pass technical testing on the basis of the norms in the force there.

Therefore, not all the parts have to be Swiss made and the aforementioned indication becomes a marketing tool!

However, I wonder if the higher echelon watch manufacturers like Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe just to name a couple utilize all Swiss components? Just food for thought

Best Regards,

Enezdez

_________________
IWC - Big Pilot 5002 - 01
IWC - Pilot Chrono 3717 - 04
Panerai - 183
Omega - Speedmaster 145.012 / 67
Rolex - Explore II (Black Dial) - 216570
Rolex - Explore I 114270
Blancpain FF 5015

That's a great book!

Related topic from earlier this week - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16502

Many of the high end firms still outsource some of their parts supplies - screws, jewels, etc, although there has been a trend recently towards becoming truly independent, doubtless made easier with modern CNC machines.

The vast majority of these parts suppliers are still Swiss, that just makes sense as that's where the parts manufacturers customers are and brands won't sacrifice quality in order to save a few cents on a multi thousand dollar watch.

Where life gets more interesting is with some of the super high end complications - tourbillons being an obvious example. There are only a few people who can relaibaly produce these from a production standpoint (i.e. without a huge percentage of rejected attempts), and while the Swiss manufacturers don't like admitting it, these complications are often outsourced to 3rd parties who produce them anonymously. In recent years tourbillon suppliers have been based out of a number of European countries - a couple of brothers in the Republic of Ireland and a guy in the Netherlands being good examples (the Dutch guy produced a lot of the tourbillons for major names in the last decade or so).

Most of the "fashion" brands that are "Swiss Made" have their major parts like bracelets and case sets made in China now. And some of the more "prestige"/"technical" brands too.