History of Swiss movements?

SpeedyPhill

The best horology bookshop in-the-world: Dombresson - Switzerland
https://www.booksimonin.ch/home.php

sheepdoll

I was busy with the Maker Faire this weekend. So did not heave time for one of my long trademark replies.

The Daniels book is pretty good. He was inspired by Breguet who made timeless designs in the late 1700s, early 1800s which look like art deco stuff from the 1920s and 1930s.

Most Swiss companies have blurbs on their websites with their history for which they are justly proud.

Watches have been mass produced for nearly 300 years. Production starts in the 1500s. Queen Elizabeth I is said to have had a wristwatch, and the memento mori skull watch from one of the Mary's still exists. The history says Nuremberg Germany was the start of production in the 14th century. Peter Heinlein the inventor. What ever the case the production followed the protestants through the Netherlands into England. Many people over the centuries had flee catholic persecution in to the alps, Due to something called the revocation of the edict of Nantes.

With the quest for longitude and banking Coventry and London became the center of watch production in the 17th and 18th century. By the 19th America was the center of production.

During this time, Switzerland was seen as an sort of OEM parts supplier. A low wage country. Parts were also occupied from time to time by French German and Italian interest. Modern Switzerland (Confederation Helvetique) did not exist until 1880 when the cantons were unified under a modified copy of the US constitution.

This allowed for the creation of corporations called societies anonymous. In England these are called limited partnerships. The term actually comes from corpus christie. and means protected under the body of christ. (Which might surprise a few corporate executuives.) Cartels were coin operated music boxes in Swiss train stations where buisness deals were done.

Since there were no copyright, patent or trademark laws before 1880 many of the Swiss watches were considered copies of American, English or French designs.

Not that rolex was an English company. Omega on founding probably identified as french. So it is really hard to use modern ways of looking at an unbroken tradition. From the start clocks and watches favor mass production. So were done by independent subcontractors.

Asian watchmaking starts in America. The silicon valley to be precise. The San Jose Watch company of Alviso California tools wound up with the Hattori group.

Russian watches come from the purchase of the Durber Hampton factory.

The Swiss plate and bridge layouts along with the part numbering come from Elgin.

Most of this comes from a book "Revolution in Time" By David Landes.

dsio

When I think of a more general book covering some of the history and the technical side of watchmaking from tools to finishing techniques to manufacturing of small parts I think of Watchmaking by George Daniels. Daniels was a legendary Manx watchmaker and the father of the Co-Axial escapement used by Omega as well as being an incredibly creative and talented individual, he also writes a book that goes quite deep but is also understandable.

He isn’t Swiss, but I can’t think of anything quite as good from a Swiss source, and being that his first language is English it’s less of a barrier than some books translated from French or German.

You certainly won’t regret it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276645631368