Who sold more quartz wristwatches in 1970, the first year of the "quartz crisis"?
9 comments
Sort by
Nichtvondiesemjahrhundert
Welcome to my WatchCrunch profile.
Member since
Last active: 1 week ago
6.50” / 16.51 cm
Pure guess on my part.....based on where I understand the innovation emerged from.
Pure guess on my part.....based on where I understand the innovation emerged from.
Hint: what tech did Longines and Omega use when timing the 1952 Olympics?
North Korea.
This would have been more appropriate for a quiz instead of a poll. 🤔But WC doesn't have those yet...
The Astron beat Omega to market by around 3 months… but more than one Swiss brand was involved in the development of the Swiss quartz watch movement.
It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, by the early 1970s many brands decided that they would call it a day. Regardless of who closed when, by the time the 1980s rolled around, the Swiss watch market would never be the same, and moved towards a structure akin to what you see now motivated by survival and protection.
Probably the Swiss, pretty sure the Astron was only sold in Japan and wasn't exactly cheap.
Spot on - the Beta 21 movement was backed by a large consortium because many Swiss manufacturers saw the quartz train coming down the track. Though they still couldn't avert some of its consequences.
The Astron beat Omega to market by around 3 months… but more than one Swiss brand was involved in the development of the Swiss quartz watch movement.
It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, by the early 1970s many brands decided that they would call it a day. Regardless of who closed when, by the time the 1980s rolled around, the Swiss watch market would never be the same, and moved towards a structure akin to what you see now motivated by survival and protection.
Yep, the Beta 21 was SO CLOSE to beating Seiko.
That said the Beta 21 was allegedly VERY fussy and wasn't super durable.
Then GP comes along with the stepper motor and single integrated circuit system and essentially every analog quartz watch's design was fixed.
Yep, the Beta 21 was SO CLOSE to beating Seiko.
That said the Beta 21 was allegedly VERY fussy and wasn't super durable.
Then GP comes along with the stepper motor and single integrated circuit system and essentially every analog quartz watch's design was fixed.
GP were also the first to produce a quartz movement running at a frequency of 32,768 khz