From today's WSJ

[alt.watch.obsessive]

War of Watches Looms

In Neutral Territory

Rolex, Swatch and Rivals Battle Over How

Swiss a 'Swiss-Made' Timepiece Should Be

By MARTIN GELNAR

August 25, 2008

ZURICH -- Swiss watches need to be more Swiss. That is the call of some of the biggest makers of one of the country's best-known luxury exports.

Worried that too large a proportion of a Swiss watch is, in fact, made outside Switzerland, big manufacturers such as Swatch Group SA, Cie. Financi

[TwoTone]

Interesting read...

Thanks for posting...

Double T

.

[FxrAndy]

Well i hope the cinese follow suit, i am sick of my reps being devalued by all these outsoursed swiss parts, Hublot owners dont worry, your GEN bezels are made in China

[Guest carlsbadrolex]

I think that if I were the big companies I would not try to [censored] off Swatch group too much. How many of THOSE companies purchase movements from eta?

What would happen if eta ( a Swatch owned company) simply said, we are keeping all our movements??? No more 7750 based watches, no more 2824-2 based watches, no more 2892-2 based watches.

Of course companies like Rolex wouldnt much care... But how about the others?

Here is a list stolen from another site with the parent company name and the marques they produce:

Artime

* Philip

* Sector

Audemars Piguet independent Breitling independent Bulgari

(Italy)

* Bulgari

* Daniel Roth

* G

[jkerouac]

There is a problem with market regulations that favor a very small number of large parts suppliers.

Say you pass this regulation that forces smaller producers to buy a larger percentage of parts from the big guys.

The big guys could then raise prices to squeeze out smaller competitors.

If I were a small producer I would push for more variety and competition among parts suppliers before agreeing to such a change.

[phaedo]

If something has a stamp saying made somewhere, it shoud be made there! Simpe as that. (counterfeits excluded, of course ) Nowhere else can a company get away with falsely advertising the country of origin. I buy a cellphone, the battery may have made in Japan stamped on it, but the phone itself more than likely is stamped made in Malaysia, or China, or wherever. Imagine if, because the battery were made in Japan, they could get away with stamping the phone as made in Japan also? Don't think that would be alowed to happen somehow....