Swatch Report
Swatch case study
"This watch is the product which will reintroduce Switzerland to the low and middle price market. It is the first step of our campaign to regain dominance of the world watch industry," said Dr. Ernst Thomke, President of ETA SA, a subsidiary of ASUAG and Switzerland 's largest watch company.
Ernst Thomke had made this confident declaration about SWATCH to Franz Sprecher, Project
Marketing Consultant, in late spring 1981. Sprecher had accepted a consulting assignment to help
ETA launch the watch, which was, at that time, still in the handmade prototype phase and as yet unnamed. This new watch would corne in a variety of colored plastic cases and bracelets with an analog face. ETA had designed an entire production process exclusively for SWATCH. This new process was completely automated and built the quartz movement directly into the watch case.
Sprecher 's key concern was how to determine a viable proposal for moving this remarkable new product from the factory in Grenchen, Switzerland into the hands of consumers aIl over the world.
COMPANY BACKGROUND : ETA, EBAUCHES AND ASUAG
SWATCH was only one brand within a large consortium of holding companies and manufacturing units controlled by Allgemeine Schweizer Uhrenindustrie (Asuag, or General Company of Swiss
Watchmaking). SWATCH was to be produœd by ETA, a movement manufacturer, which was part of
Ebauches SA, the subsidiary company overseeing watch movement production within the Asuag organization. Asuag was founded in 1931, when the Swiss government orchestrated the consolidation of a wide variety of small watchmakers. The major purpose of this consolidation was to begin rationalization of a highly fragmented, but vital, industry suffering the effects of one world war global depression. By
1981 Asuag had become the largest Swisss producer of watches and watch components.
Asuag was the third largest watchmaker in the world behind two Japanese firms, Seiko and Citizen.
Asuag had
"This watch is the product which will reintroduce Switzerland to the low and middle price market. It is the first step of our campaign to regain dominance of the world watch industry," said Dr. Ernst Thomke, President of ETA SA, a subsidiary of ASUAG and Switzerland 's largest watch company.
Ernst Thomke had made this confident declaration about SWATCH to Franz Sprecher, Project
Marketing Consultant, in late spring 1981. Sprecher had accepted a consulting assignment to help
ETA launch the watch, which was, at that time, still in the handmade prototype phase and as yet unnamed. This new watch would corne in a variety of colored plastic cases and bracelets with an analog face. ETA had designed an entire production process exclusively for SWATCH. This new process was completely automated and built the quartz movement directly into the watch case.
Sprecher 's key concern was how to determine a viable proposal for moving this remarkable new product from the factory in Grenchen, Switzerland into the hands of consumers aIl over the world.
COMPANY BACKGROUND : ETA, EBAUCHES AND ASUAG
SWATCH was only one brand within a large consortium of holding companies and manufacturing units controlled by Allgemeine Schweizer Uhrenindustrie (Asuag, or General Company of Swiss
Watchmaking). SWATCH was to be produœd by ETA, a movement manufacturer, which was part of
Ebauches SA, the subsidiary company overseeing watch movement production within the Asuag organization. Asuag was founded in 1931, when the Swiss government orchestrated the consolidation of a wide variety of small watchmakers. The major purpose of this consolidation was to begin rationalization of a highly fragmented, but vital, industry suffering the effects of one world war global depression. By
1981 Asuag had become the largest Swisss producer of watches and watch components.
Asuag was the third largest watchmaker in the world behind two Japanese firms, Seiko and Citizen.
Asuag had