The Business of Time

A global history of the watch industry

By: Pierre-Yves Donze

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Paperback | 9 July 2024

At a Glance

Paperback
214 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
24.0 x 17.0 x 1.2

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$50.59

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The business of time presents a comprehensive history of the global watch industry from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.

Watch production in the twenty-first century is concentrated in three countries: Switzerland, Japan and China. The industry is dominated by a dozen or so large companies, including the Swatch Group, Richemont, LVMH, Seiko and Fossil. But a hundred years ago the picture was dramatically different.

Over the course of a century, Great Britain, France, the United States and Russia saw the manufacture of watches disappear from their territory. At the same time, Hong Kong went from being a subcontractor of watch components to an intermediary between Chinese factories and the world market.

Revealing the conditions that drove the spread of watch production around the globe, The business of time explains how multinationals emerged to dominate the industry and highlights how Swiss companies were able to establish themselves as the undisputed leader in luxury watches.

Industry Reviews

'An excellent concise history of the global watch industry... The book is full of interesting stories about technological innovation and progress and how they are communicated globally.'
Jan-Otmar Hesse, Business History

'Offers a unique insight into how the industry evolved, looking at the transition of dominance between countries.'
The Naked Watchmaker

'A beautifully constructed, tightly focused, single-industry case study that has important implications for various questions in business history.'
WatchCrunch

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