The company that is most associated with the Swiss Army brand, Victorinox, has been in existence for more than a hundred years. Everybody knows about the classic Swiss Army knife after all these years, but not as many people are aware of the great quality that goes into their Swiss Army watches. This article will share some of the reasons that these timepieces are of the highest quality.
After more than a hundred years of riding the momentum of their main product's success, Victorinox felt the need to expand their product line. They had a study done in the US and found that their customers their wanted them to create more products of similar quality to their famous knives. After throwing around some ideas, they made the decision to produce a line of high-quality watches to go with their knives, in part because of the success of the Swiss watchmaking industry.
Executives at Victorinox were faced with a serious challenge in the early stages. They wanted their watches to have the same outstanding quality as their knives, but they didn't control the entire process of manufacturing their watches. So they could have direct, hands-on oversight of the assembly, they actually constructed a new factory in Switzerland in 2002.
Bear in mind a great deal of the effort behind assembling and producing quality watches must still be done by hand by experts with great technical and watchmaking ability. The fact that they continue to make watches of such great quality is an amazing feat in and of itself; Swiss Army creates almost a million watches annually, even with a workface that is heavy on the human side.
Swiss Army only accepts the highest quality materials to be put into their watches. The central component of every watch, known as the movement, is bought from a Swiss company by the name of ETA. This company is also responsible for supplying movements (the part of the watch that causes the hands to spin and thus, tell time) to other Swiss greats like Omega and Tag Heuer.
Despite their great quality, Victorinox and other Swiss watch companies are under assault from a new challenge. These genuine Swiss watch companies are seeing more and more foreign companies spring up with lesser quality watches. The reason these companies exist is because of a rule that states that for a watch to be considered "Swiss," the movement has to be at least fifty percent from a Swiss company.
Many companies, especially from Asia, have chosen to take advantage of the sterling reputation of Swiss watches by exploiting this rule. It is easy for them to make watches that are technically Swiss made, but in reality don't match the same standards of quality as a genuine Swiss Army watch. Many of the new brands have even publicly acknowledged that they get a lot of mileage out of being thought of as a "Swiss watch." Consumers immediately associate that label with high quality.
In spite of this challenge, the Swiss watchmaking industry continues to stay strong. This is a statistic that must have the leaders of these companies smiling: only three percent of all the watches sold in the world are Swiss-made watches, but more than half of the money spent on timepieces in the world goes to buying them. And leading that pack are companies such as Victorinox that offer watches of great quality at an affordable price.
After more than a hundred years of riding the momentum of their main product's success, Victorinox felt the need to expand their product line. They had a study done in the US and found that their customers their wanted them to create more products of similar quality to their famous knives. After throwing around some ideas, they made the decision to produce a line of high-quality watches to go with their knives, in part because of the success of the Swiss watchmaking industry.
Executives at Victorinox were faced with a serious challenge in the early stages. They wanted their watches to have the same outstanding quality as their knives, but they didn't control the entire process of manufacturing their watches. So they could have direct, hands-on oversight of the assembly, they actually constructed a new factory in Switzerland in 2002.
Bear in mind a great deal of the effort behind assembling and producing quality watches must still be done by hand by experts with great technical and watchmaking ability. The fact that they continue to make watches of such great quality is an amazing feat in and of itself; Swiss Army creates almost a million watches annually, even with a workface that is heavy on the human side.
Swiss Army only accepts the highest quality materials to be put into their watches. The central component of every watch, known as the movement, is bought from a Swiss company by the name of ETA. This company is also responsible for supplying movements (the part of the watch that causes the hands to spin and thus, tell time) to other Swiss greats like Omega and Tag Heuer.
Despite their great quality, Victorinox and other Swiss watch companies are under assault from a new challenge. These genuine Swiss watch companies are seeing more and more foreign companies spring up with lesser quality watches. The reason these companies exist is because of a rule that states that for a watch to be considered "Swiss," the movement has to be at least fifty percent from a Swiss company.
Many companies, especially from Asia, have chosen to take advantage of the sterling reputation of Swiss watches by exploiting this rule. It is easy for them to make watches that are technically Swiss made, but in reality don't match the same standards of quality as a genuine Swiss Army watch. Many of the new brands have even publicly acknowledged that they get a lot of mileage out of being thought of as a "Swiss watch." Consumers immediately associate that label with high quality.
In spite of this challenge, the Swiss watchmaking industry continues to stay strong. This is a statistic that must have the leaders of these companies smiling: only three percent of all the watches sold in the world are Swiss-made watches, but more than half of the money spent on timepieces in the world goes to buying them. And leading that pack are companies such as Victorinox that offer watches of great quality at an affordable price.
About the Author:
Rob Dunwoody is an authority blogger on Men's Apparel and Accessories. For more info on Victorinox Swiss Army watches, make sure you check out his page. You can also learn how the Victorinox watch was created by visiting here.
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