Swiss Army Watches: The Story Behind Their Quality

By Rob Dunwoody


The company now known as the original Swiss Army company, Victorinox, has actually been around for nearly 125 years. It is common knowledge that their Swiss Army knife is among the most recognized and respected tool of this past century. But the quality of their watches is less known. This report will explain why these affordable watches are one of the best bets in terms of quality.

After a century of producing Swiss Army knives, Victorinox decided that it was time to branch out into new products. They commissioned a study that showed them that consumers in the US expected products that had the same qualities as their knives. They settled on producing watches because it was in the Swiss DNA to produce high-quality watches.

The only problem was that, in order to maintain the same level of quality consumers expected, they would have to control the assembly process and ensure they were of highest quality. To do this, Victorinox built a new factory in 2002 Switzerland that allowed them to oversee the creation process directly. This gave them total ability to examine every little detail about their watches before they hit the market.

Bear in mind a great deal of the effort behind assembling and producing quality watches must still be done by hand by experts with great technical and watchmaking ability. The fact that they continue to make watches of such great quality is an amazing feat in and of itself; Swiss Army creates almost a million watches annually, even with a workface that is heavy on the human side.

Swiss Army watches are made from only the finest materials. Most of their watches are made out of ETA movements. ETA is the name of a Swiss company that makes the watch movements (the mechanism that actually creates the motion of the ticking hands). ETA movements are found in almost all of the Swiss watches, including the high-end luxury brands such as Tag Heuer and Omega.

The carefully cultivated reputation of Swiss-made watches is experiencing a new threat these days. Swiss-made watch companies have seen competition increase from unscrupulous foreign companies. That's because of the rule that the movement of each watch only has to be made with at least 50% Swiss-made parts.

Many Asian companies, in particular, have done their best to take advantage of this rule. They can make watches that they claim are Swiss made, charge a high-end price for them, and not make them to the same quality standards as genuine Swiss-made watches. Newer companies with no track record are benefitting from the reputation that Swiss watchmaking companies have created over centuries because they call themselves "Swiss-made" and consumers automatically assume that they are high quality as well.

Still, Swiss watchmaking companies continue to enjoy the success that they have rightfully created. Consider this shocking statistic: Swiss watch companies only make three percent of the entire global supply of watches, but yet they bring in about half of the US $40 billion spent across the globe on watches. That's because they are a respected and admired brand across the world. And right in the thick of that market, Victorinox and their Swiss Army watches stand as a beacon of both affordability and the high quality we have all come to expect from Swiss watches.




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