Swiss Made & Swiss Movement

[Watchnewby]

I learn something today and would like to share with other members who are new to watch terms.

The terms "Swiss Haute Horlogerie" refers to manufacturer who develop and made all parts/pieces of a watch main components without using parts from other manufacturer. All are made in-house from screws to the casing of a watch.
Famous haute horlogerie are Patek Philippe, Blancpain, Jaeger Le-Coutre, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Ulysse Nardin, Piaget, Zenith, Rolex, Roger Dubois, Franck Muller etc and concentrated at cities like Geneva, Bienne, Besel, Le-Locle, Neuchatel, dan Schaffhausen in Switzerland.

Other Swiss manufacturer may rely on ebouche(or base movement) for thir own production. Nearly 80% of watch producer in  Switzerland rely on ETA (ETA Montres S.A.) – the biggest  ebouche producer from Switzerland. Brands like Omega, Tissot, Longines, TAG Heuer, Oris, Hublot, Fortis, Swatch, Breitling and many more used ebouche /base movement made by ETA. Some change certain critical parts in the ebouche ETA like mainspring barrel, regulator, escapement mechanism, balance wheel, hairspring, dan winding system to module or their own invented parts to give better accuracy as claimed by them. ETA movement modified by them usually used a different name.

Between the years 1990s - mid 2000, many watch producer from US, Italy, France, German, shifted their factory to Switzerland to get the "SWISS MADE" endorsement. The watch producers are Ball, Panerai, Graham, Mont Blanc, Louis Vitton, Hermes, Bvlgari, Hermes, Chanel etc. Reason being the general public perception of "SWISS MADE" is of quality, prestigious and reliable.

There are majority of watch producers not based in Switzerland but based in countries like US, Hong Kong, Sweden, German etc who rely on ETA movement. Only a couple of independent watch producer like A. Lange & Sohné, Union Glashütte, dan Glashütte Original who produced their own movement. The producer who uses ETA movement will print "SWISS MOVT" (if using Miyota of Japan, will print "JAPAN MOVT" at the watch dial.

[sshark]

How about "Swiss Made" ?

[siodee]

Hmmm...interesting, but some watchmaker put "Swiss Made" at the dial and put "Swiss Movement" at the back-case, so on this case will be.......

[Watchnewby]

How about "Swiss Made" ?

See paragraph 3 of my initial posts.

[Watchnewby]

[ Continued ]

The brand Invicta from US mainly uses both ETA and Miyota for their marketing purposes. One is  Swiss and the other Japan for certain models to give consumer the choice of pricing. Normally a "SWISS MOVT" printed watch will be priced higher than a "JAPAN MOVT" printed watch.
These can be seen in fashionable brands like Guess dan Nautica. Guess Collection (GC) products is priced higher We seldom see "JAPAN MOVT" printed on Guess or Nautica watches because of general public perception.

[Watchnewby]

[ Continued 3 ]
Watch producer from Italy such as T. Buti, Locman, U-Boat, Anonimo etc mostly usesETA movement in thier products. The same goes for France watch producer like LIP, St. Honore, dan Michael Herbelin.

Apart from Swiss ETA movement, Japan Miyota movement also has its fair share of the market. Fashion brands such as Bum Equipment, Timberland, Tommy Hilfiger, Elle, Elleyse, Lacoste etc uses Miyota movementl. The Solvil-et-Titus brand from Switzerland also uses Miyota movement Miyota for its Hong Kong models and sold at a price lower than a "SWISS MADE" model. (Note : From my observation, Solvil-et-Titus watches from Hong Kong can be found mostly in a watch retail chain, Cxxy Cxxxn)

Other watch manufacturer from other countries, for example Germany's A Lange & Sohne and Union Glashütte is equal or on par with Switzerland's haute horlogerie. Other watch producer from Germany who uses ETA movement, do not print "SWISS MOVT" on their products, but instead print "GERMAN MADE" or "MADE IN GERMANY" on their watches.These can be seen from German brands such as Limes, Sinn, Tutima, Muhle Glashütte, Junkers, Aeromatics and Zeppelin. Russia also made their own watch movement especially watches of yesteryears from First Moscow Watch Factory. Nowadays most of them also use ETA movement.

[engkow]

mine Locman 1970 swiss movement on the dial and Sinn 303 nothing stated..

[Watchnewby]

mine Locman 1970 swiss movement on the dial and Sinn 303 nothing stated..

Sinn is made in Germany. Not stated could mean that in modern times German-made watches does not print anything on them.

[Watchnewby]

Sinn is made in Germany. Not stated could mean that in modern times German-made watches does not print anything on them.

Most German watches do not have the word "Glashutte" or "MADE IN GERMANY" on their watch model. Most German watches uses ETA, Ronda, Poljot or Miyota movement. Latest I read about is some even uses made-in-China  "Miyota Copy" movemnent for the lower end watches. (but still printed "MADE IN GERMANY" or "GERMAN QUALITY" on the rotor plate or watch casing).

For example, mechanical watches from Trias, Aeromatics, Junkers, Zeppelin etc also sold lower end model at prices between RM600 - RM800. Most middle to upper market models (between RM1,000 and above) from the above mentioned brand uses mechanical movement or quartz movement from ETA, Ronda dan Miyota Japan.

[TheHobbit]

It is important to note that some of the brands you listed are not considered German brands. They are considered Germasian brand as most if not all the manufacturing and assembly are done is Asia while they have a 'representative' office in Germany. This topic of Made in Germany, Glashutte, Swiss Made etc have long been debated with no conclusive result.

Here is a link that makes some good reading on made in Germany or Glashutte. Mods, please delete if not appropriate.

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f8/made-germany-re-post-4166.html

[Watchnewby]

Hobbit,

Noted and Thanks for the link.
Learn something new daily

Cheers,
Chng

[Peiseh]

With global outsourcing becomes so easy and make economical sense, there will be no shortage of such Made in xxxx country even though the item is not fully produced at site.

Many countries allowed their home-made products to be printed Made in xxxxx provided that it satisfied a certain percentage of local contents in the product produced. Its only make business sense to source for cheaper components elsewhere and locally assembled and within the percentage allowed.

Problem lies in the percentage allowed as it deviates from country to country. It could be more than 50% or less, depending on the country concerned.

So, for watch collectors they have to decide what's more important and perceived as the most valued in a watch.
If a person valued design more than anything else, Swatch, Azimuth, or Epos would probably be their ultimate watch brands, and so on..

If one preferred it as an investment and expecting some returns on the watch when they sell them, by all means watches like Patek Phillipe, A.Lange & Söhne etc would be the choices..

So, in the nut-shell its what we perceived as value that will determine the value and demand of the watch//

[Peiseh]

by the way...its a good article to share with watch enthusiast...tks..

[Watchnewby]

Thanks for reading, Peiseh.

You are right in the sense that "what we perceived as value that will determine the value and demand of the watch". I agree with your statement.