Watchmaking: A Case Study in Enterprise and Change

From its beginnings in sixteenth century southern Germany, Professor Landes traces the development of the personal timepiece industry to France, where the design of watches as items of personal adornment reached its peak; to England, where precision in timekeeping and rationalization of manufacture...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business history review 1979-01, Vol.53 (1), p.1-39
Main Author: Landes, David S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business history
Business structures
Case studies
Chronometers
Clocks
Cylinders
Economic competition
Inventions
Machinery
Manufacturing industries
Watches
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Summary:From its beginnings in sixteenth century southern Germany, Professor Landes traces the development of the personal timepiece industry to France, where the design of watches as items of personal adornment reached its peak; to England, where precision in timekeeping and rationalization of manufacture were developed to new heights; to Switzerland, where manufacture on a mass scale for a highly diverse market was attained; and, finally, to America, where the technique of assembling mechanical devices from precision-machined interchangeable parts was applied to watchmaking with the same success it had achieved in less demanding applications. He discusses the sociological factors that produced the Swiss industry in a region of seemingly little promise, and demonstrates how these factors made the Swiss more successful than the Germans, French, or English.
ISSN:0007-6805
2044-768X
DOI:10.2307/3114685