Watch of the Week - The Quartz Crisis

The quartz crisis was a revolutionary time in watchmaking that left many brands suffering and others thriving. Through my time as a watch collector and enthusiast, I've heard of this quartz crisis but didn't really know what it was all about or took it very seriously. I didn't truly understand its impact on the brands and watches we love and how detrimental it was to the world of horology. The quartz crisis was quite literally a crisis. 

In 1969, the Japanese brand Seiko released the Astron, the world's very first quartz wristwatch. The production of this watch rocked the Swiss market and left it in pieces, putting these big houses we all know and love in some serious hurt. Quartz movements are battery-powered and are much more accurate than their mechanical Swiss counterparts. They were also easier, faster, and cheaper to produce. This was the perfect storm to shake up the Swiss watchmaking industry as they lacked in all of these categories. It turned a laborious, expensive luxury good into a much more obtainable daily tool. By the late 70's, Seiko was the biggest brand in the watch world, which resulted in many Swiss and American companies going under. Especially in America, Most watch brands had to close their doors. The Swiss needed to scramble and come up with something to get themselves out of the hole that Asia dug for them. Rolex, for example, had come out with a quartz watch to combat the crisis, but it's still a Rolex. There was still a piece missing, which was the price. The Swiss still needed to do something big to put them back on top. 

Enter Swatch; those colorful plastic watches most of us had as kids, was their answer to a low cost quartz watch. They were loud and eccentric, which caught the eye of many watch lovers; the case was constructed from a single piece of plastic, keeping the cost of production low, and finally, the price of entry to the Swiss watch market was palatable and competitive with their competition. They also looked at them differently in terms of how they were to be used; instead of saving up and having your one watch, they wanted you to have an array of different Swatches to mix and match to that day's ensemble. In my eyes, it's brilliant. I find this whole story to be such a cool part of the history of horology and a battle between two nations. Without the Quartz crisis, we probably wouldn't have swatches, which in my life, was the launching point to the beautiful world of watches. After doing my research and writing this piece, I realized the power of Swatch and how we all need to pay a little respect to them because without it, who knows what would have happened.