Den japanske ur industri

[willy]

I have read countless stories about restoring older Seiko models . And i have read countless stories about restoring Swiss watches . The level of problems in getting spare parts does not seem to be the big problem with run of the mill watches . Special watches can be a problem no matter where they come from . Remember the internet is responsible for giving new life to many watches that could have ended their life as a piece of scrap metal . As a little after thought i have to name Rolex as the only mass producer that can equal the Japanese in producing watches of quality with the lowest number of factory faults . I really think the Japanese have been a good thing for the Swiss watch industry . First they gave them a wake up call , with the Quartz revolution . And now they are teaching them how to give great levels of quality all across the line . The Swiss in return have provoked the Japanese into competing in the watchmaking skills department .

I think they can learn many things from one another . And in the future we will see watches with parts made in several countrys and assembled in one . This already exists , and it will get bigger . High end manufactures that are 100 % in house do not exist , this is just branding bullshit . What you pay for in a High end watch time and date , is the finish . The rest of the watch is nothing special at all .Hand finishing and complications is what made the great High end brands we know today . But we now know that most of these brands use machines and not their hands to do the same work today . When Phillipe Dufour polishes a watch part for hours with a piece of wood , he is just keeping the old traditions alive . So just compare the time used and the price for one of his Simplicity models , and you will get some idea of the rubbish that many High end brands tell us about hand finishing . They would need about 1000% more people working at Patek if they used the old methods Today its all about machines and chemical polishing , with maybe a 5 minute wood polish for the benifit of Journalists and watch nerds . So in the machine department , my money is on Japan <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: --> <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->