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The merger took place between 1983 and 1984. The new group was called ASUAG-SSIH, employing more than 12,000 people and generating sales of over 1.5 billion Swiss francs. It includes a "finished products" sector with the Omega, Longines, Eterna, Rado, Hamilton, Certina, Tissot and Mido brands. The "movements and components" sector is represented by ETA, which now includes all the Ebauches S.A. companies and is responsible for manufacturing Swatch and Endura watches.
Two other industrial sectors complete the organization. In 1984, things began to look up: ASUAG-SSIH made a small profit (CHF 26.5 million), compared with a loss of CHF 173 million a year earlier. This was not the case for Omega, which was supposed to be a model in the pyramid, but continued to lose money. Eterna, ARSA and Atlantic have been sold.
In 1985, Nicolas Hayek, at the head of a group of investors, bought 51% of the capital of ASUAG-SSIH, which then became SMH, Société Suisse de Micro-électronique et d'Horlogerie S.A. Nicolas Hayek became Chairman.
What followed was the tremendous success story we all know. Sales and profits grew steadily, and in 1992 Blancpain was acquired, along with the Frédéric Piguet ébauches factory. In 1997, Calvin Klein Watches was created, and SMH became the Swatch Group. And the Swatch Group grew. And the vast majority of ébauches bear the ETA name. That's bound to annoy a few people...
Acknowledgements
- To the team at the Musée International d'Horlogerie de la Chaux-de-Fonds, in particular Mr. Ludwig Oeschlin, Mr. Piguet and Miss Cécile Aguillaume. The pleasure of having access to the museum's fabulous archives is matched only by the quality of the welcome I receive on my many visits.
- To Mr. Antoine Simonin, of Neuchâtel, whose bookshop always conceals a hidden treasure.
Bibliography
- For the period 1920-1960, I relied on the Revue Internationale d'Horlogerie and the Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie. I was also guided by three fundamental works. They are :
- Les Ebauches, deux siècles d'histoire horlogère, by Philippe de Coulon, Editions de la Baconnière, 1951
- La Société Générale de l'Horlogerie Suisse S.A., by Frédéric Baumann, published by ASUAG in 1956
- Une entreprise horlogère du Val de Travers: Fleurier Watch Co. S.A., by François Jequier, Editions de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Neuchâtel, 1972
- For the period 1960-1998, I also drew on the Journal Suisse Horlogerie and two more recent works:
- Une région, une passion : l'horlogerie. A company: Longines, by Jacqueline Henry Bédat, published by Longines in 1992
- and the remarkable Omega Saga by Marco Richon, published by Omega in 1998.