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Will Smartwatches Be The Second Coming Of The Swiss Quartz Crisis?

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During the seventies and early eighties, the Swiss watch industry endured what is known as the Quartz crisis, which resulted from the slow adoption of quartz watch technology by Swiss watchmakers.

Despite early advances by Swiss companies on electronic watch technology, it was the Japanese and American watchmakers that aggressively commercialized quartz technology in the early seventies, which over time resulted in a shrinking of the Swiss watch industry by over half by the time it reached its nadir in the early eighties.

The Swiss eventually bounced back, propelled at first by the rise of Swatch, but also due to the strong reputation Swiss watchmakers had developed worldwide for quality and design.

A New Crisis On The Horizon?

Given the lessons learned from the Quartz Crisis, you'd think that the Swiss watch world would be mobilized to face any potentially significant changes on the horizon, right?

Maybe, maybe not.

Over the past few years, as radios, software and sensors have all advanced to the point to where they can be packed fairly easily into a watch, many have started to talk about how the watch could be transformed into a key piece of real estate in the world of wearable computing. The excitement over the smartwatch category has only gotten more heated over the past few months, as Samsung and Google have started to make their moves and speculation grows about a potential Apple iWatch.

Given all of this excitement, how have the Swiss reacted to rise of the smartwatch? By not really reacting much at all.

So far it's been fairly quiet in the watch capital, with some like Swatch CEO have publicly dismissing the category. However, not all Swiss watchmakers have ignored the smartwatch, as some established companies like Tag Heuer are reportedly exploring smartwatches while new upstarts like Hyetis have created the first true high-end Swiss smartwatch.

Will the fairly muted response from the Swiss watch industry continue?

Possibly, but as I suggest at Smartwatch.FM, I have a feeling they'll adapt more quickly than they did in the 70s, and the good news is that they probably still have a little time. Many of the early entrants into the smartwatch space, such as Samsung's Galaxy Gear, seem more about technology than it does fashion, and if the Swiss have proved anything the last few decades, it's that watches are very much about fashion and personal expression.

While some say it's your turn Apple, I'd suggest it's time Switzerland jumps into the game.

Michael Wolf is an analyst for consumer technology research firm, NextMarket Insights. He runs a site all about smartwatches called Smartwatch.FM. Check it out and follow on Facebook or Twitter.