In the mid-1970s, the Swiss watch industry went downhill and fell into crisis, and the situation seemed to go from bad to worse. The unemployment rate in the watch industry is as high as 12%. This business crisis has had an equally significant impact on Switzerland's two largest watch groups-Swiss Watch Group and SSIH Group. 1984, the two companies merged to form SMH. After more than ten years' efforts, SMH has successfully achieved a great transformation. 199 1 year, SMH group produced 80 million watches and other timepieces. By 1992, this number had increased to nearly 1 100 million. In terms of sales, Switzerland's share in the world watch market has risen to an ideal 53% (with a total value of 7.4 billion Swiss francs), and the upward trend continues.
In order to regain the previous market share in sales volume, the strategy is to completely change the use of plastics and other artificial materials as watch materials. As early as 1976, ASUAG company had produced the thinnest quartz watch meat in the world, with a thickness of only 3.7 mm, and named it Flatline. The women's version launched the following year was only 3. 1 mm, making the whole watch only 6 to 8 mm thick. ASUAG's next goal is to develop watches with a thickness of only two millimeters. As a result, they suffered from delirium, which set a world record: only 0.98 mm thick. Its secret is to simplify the structure of the watch, which is no longer divided into three parts: case, bottom plate and inlay plate. Instead, the case and the inlaid plate are integrated, and the needle is inlaid from above, and finally only the time with a thickness of 0.24 mm is inlaid. The leaders of ASUAG saw that delirium, a concept of simplified structure, was promising, so they ordered a cheap version of delirium, made of plastic. This anniversary is 19791October 9.
The whole development process is like a race. The gunfire started at 1979 and reached the end three years later. Finally, a waterproof, shockproof and accurate plastic watch came out. And the price is cheap, it can be produced in large quantities, and there are many colorful colors to choose from.
To win customers, it is not enough to rely solely on the quality of watches, but also attractive: fresh, interesting, bold in design, low in price, high-tech charm and innovative spirit. A marketer recalled: [The first samples were black, small in size and not beautiful at all. They only use the code name "ordinary people". At that time, no one thought that they would have such great development potential. ETA SA, which is in charge of research and development, used to focus on production, so when the decision-making committee of ASUAG/SSIH decided to market Swatch by ETA on its own according to Heyek's suggestion, the leaders of this development plan met unprecedented challenges. The concept of plastic watches was so revolutionary that the traditional distribution channels of the watch industry at that time were unacceptable. In order to popularize it, you must use some imagination. The leaders in charge of Swatch know that they can't put Swatch on the market and wait for the public to accept it. To maintain low-cost mass production, there must be strong market demand. So they decided to package Swatch into a unique and attractive product: funny shape, clever design, special name and high-profile image, which can experience different trends without fading. 198 1 summer, it was finally named swatch. This is the concept of an advertising company in new york: it emphasizes that it is a Swiss product and its function is decoration. As one of Swatch's advertisements said: [You have a second house, why don't you buy a second watch? ] The original temporary name was "S'watch" (that is, the second watch), and later a marketing consultant changed it to Swatch.
The real turning point was the year of 1984. Every model launched in that year abandoned the old model and replaced it with an ingenious name. This fully shows Swatch's positive, personalized and advancing with the times, thus hitting the target customers in one fell swoop. This magical equation finally worked. There are many aphorisms to describe Swatch, such as: [Swatch's only constant is that it is constantly changing! For example, the trend with driving force. Two new series are launched in the market every year, and 70 designs are selected from 500 designs for production. They are interpreters of the times, messengers of the times, and magicians with unique opinions. At first, the location of Swatch was [the second table], and the result became the first table, the second table, the third table … and finally the collection table. Swatch, this idea has a life of its own. This name seems to have a kind of magic, which can make the product turn stone into gold.
Swatch is a watch belonging to this era: it represents the fashion of life, free time and relaxed indulgence. The trend is constantly changing, but Swatch is more popular than before. 1999 At the beginning of this year, SMH Group was renamed Swatch.