Thursday, July 25, 2013

A Short Introduction To Victorinox Watches

By Fausto Capello


The world's largest producer of Swiss Army watches is International Watch Company. The company was established in 1868 by American engineer Florentine Ariosoto Jones. Jones wanted to incorporate the craftsmanship found in Switzerland with modern engineering techniques -- the result being the modern Swiss Army watch.

Jones put up this idea to Schaffhausen, a Swiss town which was left behind during the Industrial Revolution. Initially, Swiss people were unsure about Jones' idea and thought that it would only result in low class watches. They were also suspicious that they would not be earning much as a result of a bluff idea.

Johann Heinrich Moser arrived to Schaffhausen and established the first hydroelectric power plant in town. Shortly thereafter, the two, Moser and Jones met and established the first Swiss Army watch factory in town.

With the hydroelectric power plant, electricity was established to the picture thus,improving Swiss Army watches' quality by year 1888. After the First World War, International Watch Company finally provided their workers proper compensation benefits, including health insurance, pension, and housing plans for them and their families.

Having invested on quartz movement, International Watch Company is the leading name of quality Swiss Army watches. They were also the first to produce Swiss Army watches that are electronic battery operated.

The company fell on hard times in the mid 1970's when gold prices escalated. The result was that it was no longer beneficial to export high quality Swiss Army watches to the United Statesand the rest of the world. Japan began to export cheap quartz clocks which were sad knock offs of the original Swiss Army watches.

International Watch Company reacted by attracting outstanding designers and engineers with the likes of Porsche. This led to luxurious, high end fashion and jewellery watches which helped recapture the consumers' trust and appeal towards Swiss Army watches.

Remarkable, the company has kept detailed records of every Swiss Army watch it has produced since 1880. Users of a Swiss Army watch made by the International Watch Company can contact them and find out what parts went into their watch and when the watch was manufactured. The company claims that they still maintain parts for all of their Swiss Army watches, and that even the antique ones from the 1800's can be repaired.

Currently, their Swiss Army watches starts at US$100 to US$1000. They also do annual auctions for charity works with schools in Mali as beneficiaries.




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