Swiss Army Watches: The Story Behind Their Quality

By Rob Dunwoody


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.

Victorinox had been making Swiss Army knives for more than a hundred years when it felt the need to create other products to complement their original tool. After a study in the US, their largest market, showed them that people were looking for other products that matched their knives in quality, they started thinking of other options. Eventually, the company decided to create a line of Swiss Army watches because of the rich history of Swiss quality in that industry.

In the early goings, they had one dilemma that had to be overcome; producing high quality watches would require them to have control over the final assembly of these watches. To accomplish this aim, they actually constructed a new factory in 2002 that would let them have complete control over the creation of their timepieces.

Producing high-quality watches still requires, even in this day of automation and machine production, many specialized workers and technicians to rigorously test each watch. When you consider that Swiss Army makes about 900,000 every year, and that their watches have to stand up to rigorous testing, it's really incredible that they have continue to create such high-quality watches.

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.

The carefully cultivated reputation of Swiss-made watches is experiencing a new threat these days. Swiss-made watch companies have seen competition increase from unscrupulous foreign companies. That's because of the rule that the movement of each watch only has to be made with at least 50% Swiss-made parts.

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.

Even with this controversy, both the present and the future is bright for Swiss watch companies. Swiss watches attract almost half of all the global money spent on watches, and they only account for 3% of the number of watches sold. Right on the middle of that vast market are the Swiss Army watches-a brand that is purchased both for their overall affordability and because they share the same quality standards as their other Swiss timepieces.




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