1968, the Japanese need something to compete with the Swiss, after years of trials and tribulations, they’re finally ready to attack. December 25th, 1969: Seiko launches the Quartz-Astron 35SQ, the world’s first quartz watch, instilling fear in the hearts of the Swiss. But it doesn’t stop there, the Japanese keep coming, pushing the Swiss into a corner with the release of the Seiko Quartz LC V.F.A. 06LC, an LCD-display digital watch, in 1973. How will the Swiss retaliate?
In reality both Swiss and Japanese firms competed throughout the 1960s to develop the first quartz watch. The Swiss went as far as to establish the Centre Electronique Horloger in Neuchâtel in 1962, and Seiko developed a portable quartz clock that was used as a backup timer for the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. The first Swiss quartz caliber, Ebauches’ Beta 21, was released just before the Astron in 1969; watches were soon to follow. The CEH consortium produced 6,000 pieces using the Beta 21, before disagreement among its members led to the abandonment of joint-production. The Swiss kept trying to compete, but they lacked the production capacity to keep prices low, not to mention the entrance of Americans to the battle, whose companies (HP, Texas Instruments, etc.) sought to get a foothold in the digital watch sector. The effects to the mechanical watch sector were devastating, the Swiss watch industry was effectively cut in half, with about 1,000 companies closing and more than 60,000 people losing their jobs. Even American greats like Bulova and Hamilton were forced to sell as a result of the crisis.
Seiko Astron / Credit: Seiko