Background:
After Hamilton Watch Company purchased and absorbed its competitor, the Illinois Watch Company, America had the best timepiece manufacturer in the world. From 1930 to 1952, Hamilton became the innovators in watch technology and production. The company also excelled in the human side of enterprise.
America’s dominance in watch manufacturing ended when anti-corporate, liberal bureaucrats gave our industry to the Swiss and Japanese.
By 1966, the Swiss, Japanese and the US Government had decimated America’s watch industry. The Swiss did it through unfair trade practices, the Japanese used advanced manufacturing processes and the US Government through either ignorance, payoffs and/or bureaucratic nonsense.
I blame it on Franklin Roosevelt’s administration for demanding that all US resources go into the war effort in 1941. After the war ended, the government refused to help reboot the civilian part of the industry, allowing the Swiss to flood the market with cheap imports. If you have ever worked on a six jewel Swiss watch , you know exactly what I mean by cheap.
Hamilton Watch Company off-loaded its watch division and became a conglomerate specializing in metals. A miscalculation by the United States Tariff Commission put the last nail in the American watch manufacturers’ coffin.
Without the benefit of accurate information, the commission believed the US industry had grown, providing fair competition against Swiss imports. The Commission ruled in favor of the Swiss and against a Hamilton and Elgin complaint.
The last slap in the US industry came about as a result of a ruling by the US Tariff Commission. Do you believe Hamilton and Elgin (bitter rivals) would have jointly filed a frivolous complaint?
Exactly who did this? Follow closely:
The United States International Trade Commission is supposed to be an independent, bipartisan, quasi-judicial, federal agency of the United States that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches. Furthermore, the agency determines the impact of imports on U.S. Industries and directs actions against unfair trade practices, such as subsidies, dumping, patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.
The USITC was established by the U.S. Congress on September 8, 1916, as the U.S. Tariff Commission. In 1974, the name was changed.
Well, it doesn’t take a high degree of reasoning power to look around and wonder: Like really?
The United States International Trade Commission operates passively. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to look at the way this agency delays hearings and allows businesses of foreign origin to undermine our own industries.
Example of delay:
1966 US Tariff Commission Portrait (Unofficial)
On December 30, 1964 the Tariff Commission received an amended complaint filed by the Elgin National Watch company and the Hamilton Watch Company. The Elgin-Hamilton complaint alleged a combination and conspiracy, furthered by a variety of acts and practices, to restrain and monopolize United states trade and commerce in jeweled-lever watches, watch movements, and watch parts.
The complaint alleged that the following persons, firms, partnerships, corporations or associations were engaged in activities in violation of section 337.
- Federation Suisse des Associations de Fabricants
- D’Horlogerie, Bienne, Switzerland (hereinafter FH)
- Ebauches S.A., Neuchatel, Switzerland (hereinafter Ebauche S.A.)
- L’Union des Branches Annexes de L’Horlogerie, La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland (hereinafter UBAH)
- Societe Generale de L’Horlogerie, La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland (hereinafter the Watch Chamber)
- The Watchmakers of Switzerland Information Center, Inc., New York (hereinafter WOSIC)
The commission concluded on October 26, 1964 that complainant’s first submission did not state good and sufficient reason for a full investigation and leave to amend had been granted…
American Bureaucratic Bozo the Clowns
The US Tariff Commission ruled against Hamilton and Elgin in the complaint and for the Swiss monopolies. Why? They didn’t have testimony from the Swiss and they “guessed”.
According to a timeline developed by Swatch. Omega and Tissot purchased the Hamilton brand from the Hamilton Watch Company on May 16, 1974. Hamilton as Buren ceased operations in 1971. SSIH bought the remainder of Hamilton in 1974, Swatch as SMH didn’t exist until 1983 and change its name from SMH to Swatch in 1998. Technically, Swatch didn’t buy Hamilton in 1974.
(SSIH stands for * Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère. It was created on February 24, 1930 in Geneva by Tissot et Omega and joined in 1932 by Lemania Watch Co & A. Lugrin Co. The SSIH placed Omega in the luxury watch segment and Tissot in the medium price segment.)
When you reflect on the name, Hamilton Watch Company, and see its logo on a timepiece, it might help to remember that a brand name is the object of your reflection. The Swatch Group, Ltd. owns the name and the remnants of a Swiss company (The Hamilton Watch Company of Lancaster, PA) spun-off after several mergers.
The watches you recognize as “Hamiltons” have movements made by ETA a division of Swatch. ETA makes all the movements shared by the 18 watch brands owned by Swatch. Hamilton’s cases, bands, hands, dials, crystals and so forth come out of the same Asian facilities as other Swatch brands.
When Swatch issued a series of watches known as American Classics, they used designs from the Lancaster Hamilton’s portfolio.
As mentioned above, the Swatch Group, Ltd. came into existence in either 1983 as SMH or 1998 as Swatch. Does it really matter, since the current manufacturer belongs to Swatch. Needless to say, but perhaps important to understand: Since 1974, Hamilton Watch Company as we may think of it, cease to exist in 1971. The assets of the company became the ownership of the Swiss conglomerate that eventually because the Swatch Group, Ltd.
A Hamilton watch purchased today is an assembled timepiece. Most mid-priced watches, regardless of brand, continue the 21st century trend of diversified global production.
Who manufacturers today’s Hamilton watches? The Swatch Group, Ltd. – Note the name with the “GROUP” in it.
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