9.8

The Quartz Revolution – The Clock Industry Does Away with Itself

In the 1970’s, the quartz clock revolutionized clock manufacturing. Switzerland and Japan developed the first quartz wristwatches thanks to microelectronics. Affordable quartz movements for alarm clocks, tabletop clocks and wall clocks initially came from the Black Forest.

As early as 1967, Junghans had brought a limited series of then still very expensive quartz tabletop clock onto the market. As from 1971, companies in St. Georgen, such as Kundo or Staiger, were foremost in setting standards with low-priced movements.

By 1980 quartz clocks had driven the labour-intensive electro-mechanical movements from the mass market. Because of automation the quartz clocks were markedly cheaper. However, this form of economization did away with many jobs.

As from 1990, it was no longer possible to cut costs any further. The Black Forest could no longer compete in terms of price with the Far East. Most clock companies had to either switch to new products or capitulate.

Assembling of Quartz Movements about 2010

UhrenTechnik Schwarzwald (UTS), Dunningen about 2010