Today, let's take a look at how Seiko House used its courage and strategy to defeat Omega.
Seiko House is a watchmaking enterprise founded by Japanese Kintaro. "Omega" may not be unfamiliar to people, because cindy crawford, the world's top model, naturally reminds people of the best combination of famous watches and beautiful women, which is the so-called luxury lineup. So did the little-known Japanese "Seiko House" give up? Actually, it is not. 19 13 years, Kintaro made the first Japanese watch-"laurel 12 watch". Since then, "Seiko House" has gained a great reputation, and its career is booming and advancing by leaps and bounds.
By the end of 1950s, Seiko House had developed into a large enterprise-Seiko Group. In 1960s, Seiko Group introduced "Mabel" watch, which became the best-selling watch in Japan because of its accurate timing and won three consecutive championships in the competition. Seiko Group did not stop in front of honor, but pursued the victory and formulated a three-step strategy:
(1) Competing for the "Timing Right" of Tokyo Olympic Games
Amid praise, the decision makers of Seiko Group started their "Tiger Mountain Tour" plan to challenge Swiss watches. Their reasons are:
Switzerland is the most famous watch kingdom in the world. When it comes to clocks and watches, the first thing people think of is Switzerland. It can be said that the clocks and watches made by the Swiss, like the beautiful natural scenery of their country, have left a very good impression on people all over the world.
The status of the Swiss watch kingdom is very stable. Whoever can attack him will win and be ahead of the world trend. Seiko Group "knows that there are tigers in the mountains and prefers the middle reaches of the mountains". They approached their opponents quietly and aimed at the opportunity to attack.
The opportunity has finally come!
In 2006, the International Olympic Committee decided to hold the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The news came that the decision-makers and employees of Seiko Group were in high spirits, hoping to take this opportunity to show their skills-to challenge the famous watch "Omega" in Swiss watches.
Speaking of "Omega", as we all know. This kind of watch is a world-famous brand, which once dominated Olympic timekeeping 17 years. 1964 During the Tokyo Olympic Games, "Omega" will naturally not give up its timing rights with its own strength and authority.
In this regard, the first step taken by Seiko Group was to find out the details of the Olympic Games held in Rome that year, and thus set up a capable investigation team.
After the expedition secretly went to Rome, it was found that the whole Olympic Games was simply an "Omega" exhibition. Those events that require high time, such as sprint, middle and long distance running, marathon, etc. Naturally, it belongs to the "Omega" world, and almost all other events are decided under the close monitoring of the "Omega" pointer.
It is no exaggeration to say that all kinds of clocks and stopwatches in the hands of referees are dominated by Omega clocks. To Seiko Group's special surprise, Omega products have absolute authority in the eyes of IOC officials.
Faced with this situation, the decision-making level of Seiko Group has not retreated, but has become more confident. This is because they have made a "new discovery". This discovery is that "Omega" watches are almost all mechanical watches, while there are only a few quartz watches. This is where the gap between "Omega" is broken. Timely clocks and watches are the fist products of Seiko Group.
They are confident that their watches can compete with Swiss watches, but their reputation is far less than Swiss watches. If you dare not compete with Swiss watches, you may always be second-rate. If you dare to compete with Swiss watches, even if you lose, you won't lose anything, but you will be famous for competing with the world-class Swiss watch group. This is probably why many small people are famous for scolding big people.
After careful preparation, Seiko Group immediately wrote a report. The report clearly pointed out: "Seiko Group" is full of confidence in becoming a timing device for the Tokyo Olympic Games. The group can provide more advanced timing equipment than that used in the current competition to serve the Tokyo Olympic Games. At that time, Seiko Group also put forward such a slogan: "Go to hell with Omega!"
Soon, Seiko Group organized a capable force to replace Omega in the Tokyo Olympic Games four years later. The slogan they put forward at that time was "making more advanced timing devices than the Rome Olympic Games". Such slogans are extremely infectious and challenging both internally and externally. Internally, it is undoubtedly a great challenge to complete the highest level of products in a limited time; Externally, Olympic officials certainly welcome the most advanced products to enter the Olympic Games.
This requires courage, and Seiko Group has such courage. However, "the train does not push, and the cowhide does not blow." If you can't think of anything, all your courage will be of no help. It wasn't long before they developed a world-class product: Quartz Watch 95 1 II. This kind of clock is mainly used in marathon and other long-distance running events, weighing only 3 kilograms. Two dry batteries can be used for one year, with an average difference of only 2 seconds per day. The referee can lift it easily with one hand. The clocks used in this competition are all as big as pickup trucks. Compared with them, it's really a shotgun for a gun.
Later, there was a legend that the International Olympic Committee decided to use Japanese-made timing devices at the Tokyo Olympic Games because quartz watch 95 1 II left a deep impression on them.
65438+ 10 In June, Seiko Group formally submitted documents to the International Olympic Committee, hoping to provide watches and clocks and other precision timing equipment for the Tokyo Olympic Games. In May of the same year, the International Olympic Committee officially replied that it agreed to all-round cooperation of Seiko Group.
Seiko Group gained more important rights.
It's time for Seiko Group to challenge Switzerland, the world watch overlord. Tadashi Hattori, then president of Seiko Group, even publicly announced: seiko watch has surpassed Swiss watches, and we have broken the myth that Swiss watches are invincible.
At the Tokyo Olympic Games held later, Seiko made a splash, which was greatly appreciated by the Japanese and became the pride of Japan.
(2) Take part in the watch competition, and strive for the champion "Omega" to lose in the Tokyo Olympic Games, which caused a certain shock in Switzerland, but this wave, like some ripples on the lake in Geneva, soon disappeared. In the eyes of Swedes, seiko watch was able to win the Tokyo Olympic Games for a while, but it only occupied a temporary time and position. The clock kingdom is still Switzerland, and no one can shake its position.
But the crisis will come soon.
Things should start with the clock competition at the New Shakhir Observatory.
In order to improve the manufacturing level of Swiss watches and clocks, and improve the status of Swiss watches and clocks in the world, the Swiss New Shakhir Observatory holds a watch competition every year.
At the end of the same year, Seiko Group finally got the qualification to participate in the Swiss Watch Competition. This is a very difficult thing. Although the clock competition held by the New Shakhir Observatory has a long history, Swiss clocks compete with each other, and foreign clocks have always been excluded. Although Switzerland opened the door to foreign products to participate in the competition four years ago, until then, no foreign products had participated in the competition. Japan Seiko Group can participate in the competition, which is indeed an unprecedented event.
In terms of strength, seiko watch is in an absolute advantage in Japan, and it is of little significance to participate in domestic competitions, so he turned his attention to Switzerland in time and decided to fight in Switzerland.
Seiko watch's game in Switzerland didn't bring me any good news. As for mechanical watches, seiko watch really tried her best, but the result was still a "big defeat", and she only got a horrible 144. Many watch experts believe that Switzerland is really invincible for clockwork watches.
But the Japanese are not convinced, and the makers of precision watches are even more unconvinced. They made up their minds that after three years of preparation, they must take revenge.
In 2000, carefully prepared precision watches participated in the clock competition of the New Shakhir Observatory. According to the usual practice, the participating manufacturers should hand over the clocks and watches to the organization department of this international competition in person according to the specified time. After a 45-day inspection by the jury, they will send the watch measurement results of the participating manufacturers to the manufacturers and announce the results of next year's competition.
However, everything is unpredictable, and Seiko Group is left and right, but the measurement results are delayed. It was not until the following spring that Seiko Group received a letter from the Swiss jury. The content is extremely simple, to the effect that this year's watch competition will not announce the ranking, and the competition will be terminated from next year.
Seiko Group is puzzled by this. Soon, the measurement data arrived, and the situation of Seiko Group is as follows: Quartz watch won the first, second, third, fourth and fifth place; The mechanical watch won the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth place.
Obviously, because of the excellent performance of Seiko Group's clocks and watches, the Swiss New Shakhir Observatory will not announce the ranking of the competition, and this time-honored competition has been cancelled.
Since 1860, this competition has been going on for more than one hundred years. In order to maintain its hegemony, Switzerland terminated this famous competition, which shows how guilty it is.
(3) Strive for popularization. Seeing this kind of protectionism without competitive consciousness at work, the civilian Seiko Group made up its mind to leave this kind of competition. This courage has played a very important role in the development of Japanese watches today. Otherwise, I'm afraid we won't see Japan's powerful clock strength now.
The decision-makers of Seiko Group saw that a quartz watch was only worth about ten yuan and could be discarded at any time, and the monthly error was within 15 second. Rolex, the king of mechanical watches, is expensive, and the monthly error is not less than 150 seconds. Comparing the two watches, there is no doubt that quartz watches have an absolute competitive advantage.
Therefore, they believe that quartz watches will be widely popular in the market in the future.
In 2000, Seiko Group put quartz electronic watches on the world market, which made it famous for a time. Then, they introduced the display electronic watch. In a word, Seiko Group has continuously introduced various styles of clocks and watches, and the price has been falling. Watches have become a necessity in people's daily life.
Seiko watch sells well overseas, while Swiss watches are in a passive position. Seiko Group has thus made huge profits.
The following are some important records of Seiko Group:
In, Hattori Kentaro became the fourth president of Seiko Group, and started the strategy of "intensive development" with small batch and various styles, which made people of different classes and interests like and wear watches.
Soon, he carried out the strategy of "diversified development", not only developing in the direction of medicine and computer, but also exporting technology to foreign countries. Seiko Group develops in an all-round way.
In 2006, Seiko Group acquired the second-ranked watch company in Switzerland and began an offensive war to slaughter the world watch empire ... Japan thus removed Switzerland from the throne of the "king of watches" with two "wrists" of courage and courage, making itself a new overlord in the watch market.