The Quartz Crisis is often discussed in terms both vague and dismissive -- oh, yeah, the Japanese arrived with a superior technology, Hong Kongers produced it cheaply, and the Swiss nearly went belly-up, save for the heroic efforts of a man named Hayek.

That all may be true if you take the widest possible lens, or from the distance of the year 2026 -- a half-century after the events in question. But during the slow, painful, grueling loss of a customer base, the Swiss writhed and wriggled -- did their best to escape the trap like a squealing mouse on a Manhattan apartment sticky-pad (if you've lived here, you know).

Take for example the above Swiss government document, formerly undisclosed -- of which I've posted only a few pages, as I've been chastised previously for posting so-called walls of text.

The rundown: July, 1970. Gerard Bauer, head of the FH (essentially the main Swiss watch cartel organization), and his cronies, including the head of Swiss watch evangelism in the region, a man normally based in Sao Paolo, meet the local Swiss diplomats in Uruguay. Of course, the challenge is that the Japanese have captured the local market. How to fight back? We're in the trenches now, boys. Bauer is frantic -- he has been traveling the continent trying to save Swiss market share -- he's been to Recife, Rio, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Lima, Bogota, and Caracas on just this trip.

The meeting is fascinating. One presentation: in 1966-67, all vended watches locally were Swiss. But the Japanese have built from the ground up an infrastructure so robust that retailers have dropped Swiss watches from their storefront displays entirely. The Japanese have mastered local distribution and importation, the sale of parts, publicity.

Theirs is an operation predicated on hunger and discipline. The Swiss, by contrast, have been complacent and lazy. What they had once in the market they expected always to have.

The solutions? They come up with two fascinating ones, though neither is ever implemented, as far as I know. The local Swiss-importer-distributer who controls Universal Geneve, Patek Philippe, Angelus and Bulova here argues that there must be a strong campaign such as the wool and natural fiber industry waged against synthetic, polyester sweaters and textiles. Make the Japanese watches seem functional but fake -- lab-grown, ponderous, just inorganic and unnatural. The Swiss watches are natural fibers such as cotton and wool -- they will hug your body and let you breathe. Thusly should the Swiss fight back in the marketing realm, says the man who sells Pateks and UGs in Montevideo.

An interesting smear campaign and one with an unquestionable quantum of creativity. But Gerard Bauer -- the head of the FH, the cartel -- has perhaps a more intriguing idea. If we supplied you, Uruguayan importers with just a few standard calibers, if we cleared up with this in-house caliber confusion, which only serves to confuse customers, would you all be willing to unite your vending efforts under just three brands? NO more Patek versus Rolex or anything like that -- to regain market share, would you just band together and sell three brands -- your pick -- that use the three standardized calibers we, the Swiss, should have ready for you by mid-1971?

Welcome to the era of streamline or die. Now, it's not clear anything from this meeting was ever implemented in LATAM. Nor is it the least bit clear that consolidation in such a manner would have beaten back the Japanese. This truly remains a case study in business that has still barely been studied. Nobody knows about these government memos. About the frantic machinations of watchmakers suddenly excluded from the party, trying to figure out desperately how to get back in.

But yes, if these ideas had been followed, you would have had ads targeting Seiko as Dacron, you would have had Bulova and Patek sharing movements, perhaps.

Wild stuff -- and only found out because I worked my tail off researching the secret history of historical, transnational watch chicanery for my new book, out now: "Borrowed Time: A History of Espionage, IP Theft, and the Global War for Horology."

Hope you've enjoyed this post and find more to enjoy in the text if you get there

You may not think there are smoking guns in the world of Swiss backroom diplomacy. I mean, would a Swiss ambassador to Washington, in writing a confidential memo on how to win over US politicians and influence American policy, even actually put down on paper that Americans are a sentimental lot and if you find one who enjoys a Rolex you should ply him with such a watch (giving new meaning to the term tool watch)?

Well, this March 1991 confidential Swiss document lists the way Sentimental American politicians can be swayed. It discusses the strength of Congress as almost a second executive branch of our government (bygone days, of course). It talks about finding Swiss ancestral roots for politicians who delight in finding out they have Helvetic roots. And then it gives the example of a Texas politician who took a great liking to Rolex timepieces and therefore could be swayed by such watches to do Swiss ambassador's bidding (speak out in favor of foreign investment and against protectionism).

Here's some more on the Swiss analysis of how to worm its way inside America. For more on the secret history of watches being used to curry favor abroad -- on history of IP theft, of Rolex smarminess, of the rise of Japan and China as counterbalances -- read my new, heavily-researched, hopefully-revelatory book, Borrowed Time: A History of Espionage, IP Theft, and the Global War for Horology: https://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Time-History-Espionage-Horology/dp/B0H3BYBKJG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ZKQW19V8LVO9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.es=gabe+oppenheim+borrowed+time&qid=1783815566&sprefix=gabe+Opp%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-1

Title: Diplomacy with a Twist, or a Small Vademecum (Handbook) for the Economic Diplomat in WashingtonDate: March 30, 1991 Author: Jean-Daniel Gerber, Head of the Economic Service at the Swiss Embassy in Washington

Introduction

The tradition and significance of this post dictate that the Head of the Economic Service at the Swiss Embassy in Washington should not depart without a final report. However, having already written a comprehensive economic policy report on July 14, 1989, which remains relevant, a repetition is unnecessary. Instead, this document presents the insights I gathered over four years in this incomparable city, formulated as sharp, practical guidelines.

1. Mix It Up Like the Best Lobbyist!

Washington can only be described through metaphors. It resembles a beehive (or a wasp's nest) where everyone acts like the queen, fights like a warrior, works from dawn to dusk like a laborer, and watches the busy hustle like a drone. The political arena consists of a massive pool of individuals trying to pull the political levers: the President, $4,300$ political appointees, $350,000$ civil servants, 535 members of Congress with nearly $20,000$ staffers, $48,000$ lawyers, employees across $11,500$ associations and 76 think tanks, 4,200 PACs, $17,344$ registered lobbyists, and over $25,000$ unregistered professionals. Additionally, there are $4,395$ journalists—including the writers of the essential gossip column in the Washington Post's "Style Section".

It is naive to believe that diplomats enjoy a unique status here; a diplomat is simply one of countless pressure groups, structurally closest to a registered lobbyist. Instead of representing a hosiery factory or a church choir, the diplomat campaigns for their country. The diplomat's sole advantage is the ability to invite poorly paid American government officials to lunch—an offer they are ethically permitted to accept from foreign diplomats but must reject if it comes from domestic lobbyists.

Ultimately, both diplomats and lobbyists rely on the same primary weapon: personal connections. While the EU representative gets easy access due to the weight of the countries they represent, a Swiss diplomat will only be listened to—and perhaps actually heard—if a personal, friendly connection has been established beforehand.

• Example A: Do not expect to bring a Federal Councillor or high-ranking official from Bern to a U.S. Cabinet member (let alone the President) without first convincing a close contact of that Secretary that a bilateral meeting is mutually beneficial. If the only reason for a meeting is that a Swiss official wants to be seen with a Washington counterpart, the diplomat is entirely dependent on the goodwill of their contacts.
• Example B: A diplomat who stays cooped up in the embassy reading newspapers will be well-informed about what has happened, but completely blind to what is going to happen. When instructions to act arrive from Bern, writing letters and memos from the office on Cathedral Avenue is useless, as a typical Senator receives over 200 such documents daily. The diplomat belongs out in the city, in administrative offices, on Capitol Hill, at restaurants like La Marée or the Hay-Adams, and at the World Bank—anywhere decisions are actively brewing. Ideals dictate diffusing problems through foresight before they even manifest.

2. "It's never over till it's over, and in Washington it's never over." (Watch Out for Pressure and Counter-Pressure!)

Believing that what holds true today will last tomorrow is an illusion. The constant interplay of power means today's victory is met with tomorrow's counter-strike.

• The AGIE Case: The Swiss firm AGIE (Losone) was locked in a bitter dispute with a Japanese competitor. We celebrated a victory when the International Trade Commission (ITC) dismissed a Japanese complaint accusing AGIE of bypassing export controls to sell high technology to the USSR. The next day, the Japanese celebrated after successfully blackmailing AGIE before the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We won again when the President upheld the ITC ruling, but the retaliation followed swiftly via a single judge in Chicago who permitted the Japanese firm to continue exporting to the US despite AGIE's active patents. Where the matter stands today is known only to the army of expensive lawyers who are the true winners of such disputes. The best advice for small and medium-sized Swiss firms in the US is to avoid litigation; out-of-court settlements are significantly cheaper, even if you are entirely in the right.

"Don't expect a free lunch in Washington" could easily title this section. You will always be called to settle the check. For instance, an arrogant U.S. Treasury official abruptly backed out of a speaking engagement because Switzerland sought a seat on the administrative committee of the Polish stabilization fund against U.S. wishes. In another instance, I was told that a Swiss official's statement in an international organization deviated from the G7 stance; it was explicitly hinted that Switzerland should remember it needs the backing of the major powers if it wishes to join the Bretton Woods institutions under favorable conditions.

3. Forget Montesquieu's Principles of the Separation of Powers!

Whatever the US Constitution may claim, the United States is the only country with two functioning executives: the Administration and the Congress. Congress frequently steps in to execute policy rather than just legislate. The difference between a traditional parliamentary democracy and a congressional democracy is as vast as the difference between the World Council of Churches and the Roman Curia. Failing to recognize this means failing to properly defend Swiss interests. Congress must be worked just as intensely as the Administration, especially when it falls into the habit of playing global policeman by passing laws with extraterritorial reach.

Diplomatic restraint is entirely misplaced here. Once you successfully capture the interest of a Representative or Senator, their support can be incredibly powerful. The trick is sparking that interest, because a member of Congress primarily responds to things that win votes in their home district. Diplomats bring no votes and cannot make financial contributions to reelection campaigns.

Therefore, the art of diplomacy in Washington lies in finding out which congressional districts happen to share economic interests with Switzerland—such as identifying where the US subsidiaries of Swiss companies are located, whose employees expect a specific stance from their representative. Sometimes, personal gestures work wonders. A Senator is delighted if you discover their maternal great-grandfather originated from Yverdon-les-Bains, or if they recall admiring the Matterhorn on their honeymoon—Americans are deeply sentimental. Similarly, a Representative from Texas, for whom the embassy facilitated a contact with Rolex, reciprocated by championing our cause against the discrimination of foreign investments.

Is there a limit to diplomatic intervention? If a foreign diplomat in Bern lobbied our parliamentarians as intensely as the Swiss Embassy lobbies Congress, it would spark a diplomatic incident and lead to them being declared persona non grata. Not so on Capitol Hill, where lobbying is actively expected.

However, assuming everything is permitted would be a fatal error. For example, I flatly refused a friendly Representative's request to draft a formal counter-proposal to an unfavorable piece of legislation, as that would justly expose the embassy to charges of meddling in domestic legislative affairs. Both Brussels and Tokyo have crossed these lines to their detriment: the EU's pervasive lobbying during the passage of the Trade Act was deemed far too pushy, and Japan's defensive shielding of Toshiba (after it leaked submarine technology to the Eastern bloc) was viewed as a direct violation of American national security interests. The boundary of acceptable diplomatic activity shifts rapidly depending on current political moods and temporary alliances, which fluctuate far faster in Congress than in the Swiss Parliament. There are no permanent friends on Capitol Hill—only fleeting alliances. The art lies in linking Swiss interests to the alliance that favors us at that moment.

4. Whoever Stays Confined to Washington Misunderstands American Reality

Washington is a bubble of $61.4$ square miles surrounded by reality. It can be compared to a never-ending UN conference driven by rumors, where clarity is buried under an immense tidal wave of documents and reports, and where days are spent splitting hairs over unintelligible texts.

The actual American reality outside of the capital is entirely different. Just a few miles away, you discover that the average citizen cares very little about the happenings inside the White House or the Capitol; the average American lives in their own quiet, insular world. No large nation is quite as provincial as the United States.

Two critical reasons compel an economic diplomat to travel:

1. US Domestic Policy Trumps Foreign Trade Policy: The domestic health of the US economy, banking legislation, high-tech research breakthroughs, and airline deregulation impact Europe and Switzerland far more deeply than explicit foreign policy decisions made by the White House or Congress. This is the essence of economic interdependence, making it vital to track these domestic shifts on the ground. It is dangerous to rely solely on Washington opinion polls, even if they confidently claim an $87.1\%$ certainty of economic recovery with a mere $1.43\%$ margin of error.
2. Connecting with Swiss Subsidiaries: These companies operate outside the immediate consular jurisdiction of the embassy. Direct contact with their executive leadership is the only way to discover where these businesses are facing hurdles and where the embassy can intervene with American authorities to provide relief. An economic diplomat must gather information actively rather than waiting for it to arrive. Swiss entrepreneurs typically only reach out to the embassy when all other options have completely failed; therefore, the embassy must proactively assess their situation on the ground.
3. A New Division of Labor Between Headquarters and the Foreign Post

For Washington and similar diplomatic outposts to remain professionally attractive, their operational mandates must be fundamentally revised. The era of the embassy serving as a mere mail carrier and passive recipient of instructions from headquarters is long gone, yet we have stopped halfway in executing the necessary changes. Modern communications allow officials in Bern to contact their foreign counterparts directly via telephone or fax, or to travel themselves for critical issues. They do this out of speed and convenience, not mistrust.

However, this risks stripping the foreign outpost of its primary advantage: its deep, firsthand knowledge of local figures and conditions. The embassy faces the danger of being downgraded to a mere coordinator of visiting schedules or an executor of minor tasks that headquarters lacks the time or interest to handle.

The role of the foreign post must be redefined: today, Bern and Washington have near-equal access to information and project assessments. By working as a tight, communicative team, they can form an incredibly powerful unit. To achieve this, Washington must proactively offer to take over tasks traditionally reserved for headquarters rather than waiting for permission. The outpost should comfortably draft instructions for headquarters' approval, compose speaking notes, lead negotiations, and handle translation work, press releases, or debriefing summaries.

Furthermore, the standard practice of sending daily, routine situation reports back to Bern has outlived its usefulness. If these updates contain no genuinely novel or confidential information, they are a waste of taxpayer money, as the media has already covered them more effectively. What is truly needed are forward-looking policy papers, decoupled from daily news cycles, that map long-term trends in Swiss-US relations and identify necessary countermeasures. The fundamental goal of the outpost's reporting should be to protect headquarters from surprises. Washington must not simply be the extended arm of headquarters, but an integrated component of it.

Final Remarks

My final piece of advice for a new economic diplomat in Washington: the city is deeply fascinating, and you live directly at the pulse of global power. Dive into the commotion of the beehive and play the Washington game. You will discover that long-term Washington insiders—both American and foreign—are incredibly friendly, open-hearted, and generous. Do not just pass through Washington; truly experience it, and enjoy every single moment.

Bienne, Switzerland -- Dec. 22, 1965. This meeting has it all -- government officials, a leader of the FH (essentially, the cartel), representatives from every brand you can think.

• Oméga . (by Mr. Forster) PDF+ 2
• Enicar S.A. (by Mr. Racine) PDF+ 2
• Tiara S.A. (by Mr. Bohnenblust) PDF+ 1
• Corona S.A. (by Mr. Monnier) PDF+ 1
• Hoga S.A. (by Mr. Choffat) PDF+ 2
• Loval S.à.r.l (by Mr. Nicolet) PDF+ 1
• Dorly S.A. (by Mr. Choffat) PDF+ 1
• Nivada S.A. (by Mr. Mojon) PDF+ 1
• Astin Co. S.A. (by Mr. Jolimay) PDF+ 1
• Longines Cie S.A. (by Mr. Chevalley) PDF+ 1
• Schlup Co. S.A. (by Mr. Mühlethaler) PDF+ 1
• Roamer Co. S.A. (by Mr. Leval) PDF+ 1
• N. Jeannin S.A. (by Mr. Jeannin) PDF+ 1
• Büren Co. S.A. (by Mr. Kocher) PDF+ 1
• Solvil & Titus S.A. (by Mr. Renevier) PDF+ 1
• Optima S.A. (by Mr. Moser) PDF+ 1
• Vve H. Duvoisin & Cie (by Mr. Aubry) PDF+

The topic is very simple: Beginning in 1966 (or, really, December 1965), the military dictatorship of South Korea will again allow the importation of full Swiss watches, three years after their sudden ban -- and with 6 million francs in watches yet unpaid.

But this Swiss watch import would be only be in an amount equal to 50 percent of the cotton Switzerland buys from South Korea. Also, Omega, Patek, Rolex and Vacheron are not included in this deal because Military Dictator Park Chun-Hee took power promising austerity -- and his government also needs to spend meager foreign reserves on infrastructure.

Now, South Korea is terribly impoverished still -- a far way from its Miracle on the Han River stage, from the expansion of the chaebols responsible for most of the of the appliances in your house. IN 1964, 50 percent of the value of exported cotton to Switzerland was 1 million Swiss Francs -- so that's likely the total value of allowed Swiss watch imports into South Korea in 1966.

And yet, this is no small opening for the Swiss -- while their full watch access to South Korea was halted, the Japanese companies pounced in their place:

From 1963 to mid 1965, the Swiss managed to receive licenses for just 8,086 watches to be sold in SK. But Japan has exported 146,157 watches. They have made this market their own. The Swiss won't stand for that -- they never do. And there are major unpaid debts owed to Swiss watchmakers.

A Korean diplomat -- Mr. Shin -- has "categorically stated that Swiss watchmaking products would under no circumstances face discrimination compared to Japanese products. This is significant at a time when Japanese-Korean relations have just been regularized," the Swiss government doc reports.

But Seiko is also investing on the ground -- creating a joint clock company in Korea for $318,000.

The memo reviews the really fateful question for the Swiss -- should they abandon their historic principle of not selling movements alone (because movements spur local industry, giving the home nation the chance to gain technical knowledge of the movement while forcing it to invest in casing and parts)? Because there's every likelihood this plan will fail within the month -- after all, the Swiss themselves are highly protective of their textile sector.

Ultimately, the Swiss do reject the cotton idea -- but the watchmakers can sense an Eastern threat even before the quartz crisis has begun. And so they do make the fateful decision to send uncased -- though unrefined -- movements to Eastern Countries.

This is a proto-stage, a necessary predecessor pressure the Swiss felt acutely -- the movement dumping into Hong Kong that birthed the very first great Asian rep capital/

More great rep history in "Borrowed Time" -- about how the Swiss used industrial espionage and monopoly bullying to disembowel US watch manufacturing and how the rise of Chinese reps is a karmic revenge of sorts. Available everywhere to buy now.

Thanks for your time.

(I'm wearing a Planet Ocean 600m 42mm SS/SS Blue Bezel VSF A8912 Super Clone purchased from Steve @ TheOne)

It's the day before New Year's Eve -- Dec. 30, 1957. In the Swiss Federal Office of Foreign Economic Affairs, a subdivision head named Hans Bühler sends out a memo to the Swiss Chamber of Watchmaking. Ten years earlier, Brendan O'Regan has established the first duty-free shop at Shannon's airport in Ireland -- then a necessary refueling stop for planes crossing the Atlantic. Here, you could buy a fine watch without any crazy tax or importation fee or duty imposed by a capricious nation. This has been good for Switzerland. In the prior two years, the first in which Swiss timepieces have been on offer, they have fetched £148,000 in revenue -- of which Rolex, Tudor and Omega pieces have accounted for a hefty two-thirds.

But there is a problem, Herr Bühler writes. Mr. O'Regan, genius behind the duty-free proposition, has been told the spigot is being shut off -- that Rolex and Omega can no longer send him watches to sell. Why? It has been a profitable venture for all involved, after all.

It's America, of course -- or so Rolex and Omega each claim. You see, their American dealers attach quite a hefty premium to Swiss timepieces. And it's but a puddle jump to reach Shannon, Ireland, from the US. No one will ever pay the hefty extra margin the American distributors slab onto the prices like thick butter on a toasted bagel if the Shannon Airport sales continue.

So the American distributors of Rolex and Omega have ordered their parent companies to cease all duty-free business.

Oh, and by the way, Brendan O'Regan doesn't trust that line either -- he doubts, having researched the matter, that the American distributors have either the power, sway or desire to limit sales of these huge Swiss corporations -- of which they are but outgrowths. And the Irish Minister of Industry and Commerce (a future prime minister) backs O'Regan to the hilt. And here's their threat:

If you don't compel Omega and Rolex to get back in line and keep servicing that airport, they'll only sell German watches there hereafter -- nothing Swiss, not a single watch.

Clearly, we all have an interest in backing away from this cliff. In acceding to their request that we merely continue wholesaling them watches.

So just to recap -- here you have a government bureaucrat -- a career Swiss government lawyer -- telling a Swiss watch industry group that whatever the issue, the Swiss industry cannot afford to lose its place in the world's first duty-free shop to the German watchmaking industry.

This is not Rolex and Omega competing. This is not private enterprise. This is a government telling a collective -- you'd better push those two companies to keep supplying watches to the duty-free shop. This is a strange and unseemly intertwining of state-level commercial dictates and capitalism. It feels akin to Chinese capitalism today, honestly.

And by the way, if the reason offered is actually true -- that American retailers can no longer justify their ridiculous margins in the face of a single duty-free shop -- what does that say about the entire business model of the imported Swiss watch? Just how many times its fair retail price is it being vended for Stateside even by late 1957?

Of course, you can guess how this was resolved: Rolex and Omega did as they were damn well told to by a diplomat and their trade group. As the calendar ushered in 1958, Rolex and Omega were still offered for sale in Shannon Airport's duty-free shop. And -- wouldn't you know it? -- there was no collapse in US sales.

This is a relatively harmless document -- relatively.

But it gets at two or three very important truths that far more salacious documents bear out as I build up to the birth of the rep trade in my new nonfiction book, "Borrowed Time: A History of Espionage, IP Theft, and the Global War for Horology" (out now everywhere, Amazon included):

That the Swiss were always uniting secretly to brush away competitors in a monopolistic fashion that allowed for no foreign competition. The mere threat of the sale of German watches was enough for the government to tell Rolex and Omega nearly on New Year's Effing Eve to get their act together and keep supplying the Duty-Free airport shop.

Last I checked, Rolex and Omega were supposed to be combatants in the marketplace -- not conjoined twins. By what coincidence could both their American suppliers have voiced simultaneous complaints about being undercut on price? Does it not seem 100 percent more likely that their C-suites were in touch and deciding whether to pull out from the first duty-free in collusive discussion?

Next time you browse gen watches at the airport, please feel free to ask yourself: How many backroom deals did it take for X brand to snag this display over Y? Because if the Swiss weren't working like their own mechanisms -- in a gear train, interlocked one with the other -- freer competition might have seen the introduction of brands like Junghans and GUB (Glashütte) into Irish Duty-Free in 1958.

Watch history might have been very different.

Enjoy your reps.

I'm wearing a VSF Panerai PAM960 Carbotech Submersible 42MM CB/RU OP.XXXIV purchased from Steve at TheOneWatches.

This is it likely the most horologically narcissistic thing one can do -- to post about the watch book he just authored. But just some info in case any of you is interested: I'm Gabe Oppenheim, a NYC-based writer; I've co-created a Japanese TV show about scuba-diving cops called "DCU," and more relevantly, I've written a book called "The Ghost Perfumer," an inside look at the fragrance industry that was named one of the best parfum books ever penned by GQ France.

This book is about the first Patek counterfeiter (who wound up in Sing Sing and whose 19th-century faked pocket watches fetch thousands today); the birth of the Anarchist movement pivotal to the start of World War I inside the Longines factory in St.-Imier in the 1870s; the Swiss cartel's casting out of anyone who would not obey its dictates (and their pushing away Swiss watchmaker Rodolphe Schmid, who would then proceed to co-found Citizen in Japan); that same cartel's tactics to disembowel American manufacturers, resulting in a major government lawsuit in the that 1950s and early 1960s, a suit whose merits 10 defendants didn't deny at all, merely promising instead in a consent decree to behave fairly going forward (Rolex still was caught violating the consent decree later and the suit came too late to save the best US brands); and the way counterfeiting rose first in Hong Kong in 1973 and later in Guangzhou after China opened up a special economic zone in Shenzhen in 1980.

The story involves sources never before tapped: formerly confidential documents from the Swiss government about how the watch industry should deal with world events, including forgers and fakers, for instance (at one point, par exemple, in trying to establish the Swiss origin as a major selling point in the 1950s, the cartel and government consulted a theologian and professor; he decided the only part of the watch that needed to be Swiss as a matter of existential fairness was the movement itself -- nothing more; everyone in the industry and even foreign countries such as France agreed on the professor's terms -- save for UBAH, the union representing dial and hands-and other parts-makers; that lone dissent quashed the theological quest to define the soul of Swissness, although obviously many decades later a different definition was eventually established and propagated by a layperson/non-clergyman).

And even as I looked into all the government documents covering the Swiss watch cartel's movements (one mooted maneuver involved smearing a major figure in South America, in what reads like a CIA coup document), I also established links to the underground producers of fakes today -- so that their own plotting forms the mirror of that which has been done officially by the Swiss over centuries. And I get access inside major raids of underground factories.

No one has written about these documents before nor has any reporter ever been granted the view I was into the Swiss industry's methodical investigations of clone-makers (whose work they often appreciate even as they destroy it).

I hope all of this is of interest (if so, if it sounds like an engaging summer read, you can buy it here). And if it ain't, well, my sincerest apologies. I still hope you have a wonderful weekend. -- G

PS -- Love the old Hydroconquest, which I'm presently wearing in photo 2 above. The numerals on the dial are just intriguing-- even if too large or not quite in keeping with overall style; as you can possibly tell, I thrill to the idiosyncratic often.

As you're likely tired of hearing by now, my new book -- "Borrowed Time: A History of Espionage, IP Theft, and the Global War for Horology" -- ventures beyond high-gloss boutiques and ADs to explore the very first Patek counterfeits in the 1800s, the way Longines espied and copied Waltham's machining and methods in the 1870s, the technical evolution of the high-end Chinese replica market as an outgrowth of the tech hub of Shenzhen in 1980, and the way a Swiss cartel that for years pushed the world around is now finally being roughly treated similarly -- via our beloved mainland Chinese factories creating 1:1 reps.

And perhaps, by way of introduction, I've been a bit negligent: I'm Gabe Oppenheim. I've written for Vice, Rolling Stone and The Washington Post. I've written a book on the tough-as-nails fighters of Philadelphia. My investigative book about the inside world of the luxe perfumery industry (which, at the time, was also dominated by Swiss firms -- Givaudan and Firmenich) was named one of the best frag-focused books of all-time GQ France.

But the real oversight here has been not giving you all what you want and deserve on RepTime -- the sumptuous visual feast the best pieces provide. So here, in all white as a way of commemorating the pure possibilities words have when launched into the world, is my VSF Seamaster Professional 600M Planet Ocean, a 39.5mm piece with a luscious, almost snowy dial-bezel combo (reminds of me frosty snow days and that excitement you felt when you woke up and found out you didn't have to go in). Acquired from Steve at TheOne (I believe his records notate the watch as OMG-1279).

Hope you'll give my words a chance; if you savor them even a fraction of the way you relish these gorgeously crafted-pieces and those snow days they recall, I'll be a happy writer indeed. G

[removed]

My latest book -- "Borrowed Time" by Gabe Oppenheim -- available now on Amazon and elsewhere -- dives into much greater depth on the ways the Swiss have almost arbitrarily decided what is illicit and what's legit when it comes to watch specimens and the trade generally. The loser is invariably the honest consumer who just wants to pay his hard-earned money for a fine time-piece and be done with it -- no rigamarole, no ridiculous get-to-know-you drinks with an associate salesman/woman. Anyone on Reptime knows this is an outline, but my book begins to get into the knitty-gritty of the way we're manipulated. Here you'll see a VSF V3 Rolex Daytona 116509 purchased from TheOne and Steve with the Dandong 4130 (a caliber that Dandong only started producing at the behest of Noob in a wildly successful imploring by Noob for the watch factory to start using a 1:1 clone movement instead of a Valjoux 7750 in Rollie Chronos (you can also see here a rep VSF Aqua Terra purchased from Steve and a quartz Royal Pop just purchased from AliExpress)).

So what the hell is the whole point? I think for this particular post, besides urging you to explore my book for the real birth of the rep movement beginning with the first Patek counterfeiter (his pocket watches from the 1800s are now worth thousands themselves; his name was Schwob and he wound up in Sing Sing but also engaged in a perfumery scam selling fake amber) the point is that while I respect IP law highly, I also find its application in the horological game so scattered, so willy-nilly, so manipulated by the Swiss as to be appalling and almost self-cancelling. Take the Rolex Daytona, because it's key. We can talk all we want about Paul Newman. But I'd rather drift back to a different mid-20th century moment -- the one where Bulova -- a great American watchmaker the Swiss would target until it was a shell of itself -- decided to expand its marketing and sponsored a pirate radio station off the coast of England in the 1960s called Radio Caroline. This one sponsorship outstripped the entire Rolex ad budget for England at the time. And it was edgy -- Bulova was endorsing an unlicensed radio station in contravention of English law and societal norms.

Of course, Rolex ad folks -- the Man Men of J Walter Thompson -- were envious of this cutting-edge marketing. And they did their best to attract buyers likewise: But here's the problem. By the mid-1960s, as cool as Bulova was, they were royally effed. They were never quite the American watchmaker they needed to be, because like a WWI vet in pain, they were hooked to the drip-drip-drip of the poppy-extracted juice. See, the 1931 Collective Convention among the Fédération Horlogère (FH), Ebauches S.A. (the holding company that owned ~18 of the principal ébauche makers), and UBAH (the Swiss parts makers) controlled all creation, sale, and shipping of Swiss watches, movements, and parts. And guess who had come to incorporate those parts here and there but with tremendous regularity into their timepieces?

That's right -- Bulova had a Bienne subsidiary that would submit to them the Swiss parts they could assemble in Queens to create their American watches. Which would be wholly innocent if they weren't doing it under extreme duress. If Bulova had stopped accepting parts under the exact economic terms dictated by the Swiss cartel, they would have been cut off entirely from the entire system -- thrown out into the cold without recourse. And when the US government clamped down on the Swiss monopoly apparatus in the 1960s, it was too effing late. In December 1962, a US judge finds that Bulova, through their own fault or not, took part in the Swiss conspiracy. By 1964, the Swiss were no longer legally allowed to set pricing for the entire industry. This left Bulova with two issues, neither truly resolvable: One, they had to now invent every bit of their watches from scratch. And two, they had to compete on price with an entire world market without any of the cartel-controlled pricing that had predominated for 30 effing years. The result? Bulova magically did come up with the Accutron -- but that watch alone was too singular to make up the difference -- very cool humming sound, incredible tuning fork tech, but no substitute for an entire lineup of price-controlled mechanical pieces. Worse -- now that the global market was finally an open one, Bulova had to compete on price....just as Seiko was entering the forum with high quality (quartz) products for increasingly brilliant/low prices.

So what do I see when I see reps? I see the product of drug dealers who got my nation's best industrialists hooked and then set them off to find a rehab once they were far too addicted (same thing happened to Benrus and Gruen, notably, and several other US watch powers).

So I ask you the following: Not to feel ashamed of Swiss reps, truly. To understand that we would have a homegrown industry of watch brilliance arguably if not for truly thuggish behavior (if we can design an Apple watch, we can design our own Dynasure escapement). I ask you to consider reps as perhaps the unethical comeuppance deserved by Helvetia (while also acknowledging two wrongs don't make a right, but sometimes, right ain't the priority). And if you're intrigued by all this, you'll find a helluva lot more in my aforementioned book. Have a wonderful Saturday night and Sunday. Onward and upward.

PS -- for a flailing company, I do love that Bulova went down with a Pirate Radio ad finale. But did you know -- not long after, Bulova was bought by the Tisch family (co-owners of the New York Football Giants presently). What else did the Tisches own besides the odd Bulova brand (before Citizen took hold of it) back in 1979? Loew's Hotels, Lorillard Tobacco and CNA Financial -- an insurer bought on the verge of bankruptcy. Bulova, in that sense, made a perfect target -- it was $50 million in debt at the time. The Tisch family plan? Slap the name Bulova on already-made watches from elsewhere. This is how a soul is snatched.

So if my Royal Pop has quartz guts instead of a Sistem51 -- well, I do feel bad. But I also feel we've been roto-rootered. We've been eviscerated. They've removed our internal organs one at a time. Who would not seek a general eff it retribution?

This is my latest work arrayed behind an APSF Code 11:59 chrono, a DDF Nautilus, a rep Bell and Ross with incredible AR coating on its sapphire, a BBF Aquanaut and a rarer rep -- Breitling Superocean Heritage (the last model, not the more recent one). All of these were either bought from TheOne or Andiot. But I come to speak more of the book than of the reps I endorse and wear and photograph in subpar fashion in terrible kitchen lighting (my apologies on that).

My latest book -- "Borrowed Time" by Gabe Oppenheim, tells the story of how the Swiss spied on American watch manufacturer Waltham's technology in 1876 and later used the Swiss parts business they were in -- parts they got American brands hooked on -- to strangle American watch companies -- to gut them (by the 1950s, if you were an American watch company and you wanted a spare Swiss part you could obtain it only by turning over control over nearly all the details of your manufacture to the Swiss -- the Swiss could dictate how many watches you made and where you made 'em and what you charged). By 1960, there was a legal case to quash this disgusting monopolistic behavior. Originally, there were 24 defendents and later 23. A whole bunch of the 23 Swiss watch defendants charged entered into a consent decree promising to our government never to interfere in US watch manufacturing again...execpt that consent not to tamper in this antitrust manner was offered way too late. The US companies were shells of themselves already. They had lost control over the means of production by being strong-armed.

Oh, and Rolex violated the consent decree as recently as 2006 (before they used their legal team to get the entire decree thrown out in their case -- a true legal shame that meant Rolex could continue to withhold parts so as to asphyxiate and starve independent watchmaking elsewhere). My book asks: how did the tiny nation of Switzerland dominate watchmaking for centuries -- fairly or not? By hook or crook? And it tees up the back end of the book -- when Chinese artisans in Guangdong province -- in Hong Kong originally but then in the mainland cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou rip off Swiss IP, including the ceramic all the watches pictured above. When the Chinese do to the Swiss what the Swiss seemingly had coming after ripping out the American watchmaking soul.

Wear your reps proudly whether you're American or not. Two wrongs don't make a right, but Longines was the spear of this IP taking and their head of heritage refused even to acknowledge to me their publicly document corporate spying. It's like he was asking me to wear a clone. Was infuriating -- but it makes for a great read, I think, however biased I might be. Available everywhere, including Amazon right now -- in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audiobook: https://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Time-History-Espionage-Horology/dp/B0H3BYBKJG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2WTL24VTVDNJ7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-0thZJ59m-BGpsQyqKYymQbTIDQdSZGR9wDF7MgQm071PVp1vtOZ2Prc_UHFiStY.JmNYbCT0fLSPp0-CRG0mWtyLmYRYZP3GlQP7J0x7pfU&dib_tag=se&keywords=gabe+oppenheim+borrowed+time&qid=1783195966&sprefix=gabe+oppenheim+%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-1​

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That's an APSF made Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph 26240CE purchased from Steve at TheOneWatches and then placed on a rubber strap for the summer months. It sits atop my latest book -- "Borrowed Time" by Gabe Oppenheim, the story of how the Swiss spied on Waltham's technology in 1876 and later used the parts business they were in to strangle American watch companies (by the 1950s, if you were an American watch company and you wanted a spare Swiss part you could obtain it only by turning over control over all the details of your manufacture to the Swiss -- and they could dictate how many watches you made and where you made and what you charged). By 1960, a whole bunch of the 23 Swiss watch defendants charged entered into a consent decree promising never to interfere in US watch manufacturing again...excrpt that consent was given not to tamper in this antitrust manner way too late. The US companies were shells of themselves. Oh, and Rolex violated the consent decree as recently as 2006 (before they used their legal team to get the judgment thrown out). My book asks: how did the tiny nation of Switzerland dominate watchmaking for centuries -- fairly or not? By hook or crook? And it tees up the back end of the book -- when Chinese artisans in Guangdong province rip off Swiss IP, including the ceramic AP chrono. When they do to the Swiss what the Swiss seemingly had coming after ripping out the American watchmaking soul. Wear your reps proudly this 4th. Available everywhere, including Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Time-History-Espionage-Horology/dp/B0H3BYBKJG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2WTL24VTVDNJ7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-0thZJ59m-BGpsQyqKYymQbTIDQdSZGR9wDF7MgQm071PVp1vtOZ2Prc_UHFiStY.JmNYbCT0fLSPp0-CRG0mWtyLmYRYZP3GlQP7J0x7pfU&dib_tag=se&keywords=gabe+oppenheim+borrowed+time&qid=1783195966&sprefix=gabe+oppenheim+%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-1​

Oppenheim has previously written "The Ghost Perfumer," which went behind the scenes of the Swiss perfumery industry to reveal the true perfumer behind the brand Creed (the genius Pierre Bourdon, who also formulated/created YSL Kouros and Davidoff Cool Water). Now, Oppenheim has turned his investigative gaze onto the Swiss timekeeping cartel -- in particular, the way the Jura watchmakers (Longines, in particular) stole Waltham's horological intellectual property in the 1800s and then used monopoly power in the 1900s (denying parts to American watch companies unless they turned over control over of their production to the Swiss cartel) to gut the American companies and erode their independence.

The book concludes with a significant chunk on the rise of the Chinese rep industry, beginning with its Hong Kong roots and then its mainland birth in Shenzhen in 1980 (following which it settled more widely into the greater Pearl River Delta of Guangdong). No book published yet has ever gone into such detail about the workings of Noob, say. Or about the very comeuppance the Swiss are getting -- having stolen IP from America, they are now victims of the Chinese factories doing the same thing. It's kinda like the universe is in harmony.

Meanwhile, no author has gotten more access to secret Swiss watch cartel documents that were highly confidential for decades -- or better access to the Swiss point people who track the Chinese rep factories and work to bust them. This is the inside story of horological theft -- from the time of Breguet till now -- no punches pulled. Not only did Rolex commit antitrust acts that forced it to enter into a consent agreement in the 1960s, it further violated that agreement in 2006 -- but managed to get off by paying a paltry 750k to the DOJ -- in return for which the DOJ voided the agreement altogether -- essentially saying Rolex is allowed now to restrict access to parts, to use its vertical integration to deny the right to repair and to force indie watchmakers out of business. It's heinous that Rolex, having violated the law, essentially did it again decades later with full knowledge of the misdeed and managed to get off by having the rule voided itself (a necessary rule/agreement).

And yes, the OP here is the writer Gabe Oppenheim himself. Hope you enjoyed this post. The book is even better -- out on Amazon worldwide June 29 (the ebook can be pre-ordered, but the hardcover and paperbacks will be dropped all at once on rhe 29th in 11 days -- kinda like the Royal Pop drop, except online, non-violent, and without flippers.

And I'm wearing my VSF Cookie Monster today, in case you're wondering.

Coming in 17 days to Amazon, my new book: "Borrowed Time: A History of Espionage, IP Theft, and the Global War for Horology," an attempt to chronicle the systemic spying and IP theft that have secretly defined watchmaking from the time of Breguet till now.

This is not an ad. Just wanted all who are intrigued to be aware.

The book ventures beyond high-gloss boutiques to explore the very first Patek counterfeits in the 1800s, the way Longines heisted Waltham's machining and methods in the 1870s, the technical evolution of the high-end Chinese replica market as an outgrowth of the Communist establishment of the tech hub of Shenzhen in 1980, and the way a Swiss cartel that for years pushed the world around is now finally in the crosshairs of a worthy adversary in the mainland Chinese factories creating 1:1 Rolex and AP engines.

Finally, the Swiss, who conniving their way to pole position, are having their own IP stolen in a form of almost karmic/cosmic comeuppance... Happy Friday.

And I'm wearing my VSF Cookie Monster.

I hit up previously unreported-on secret Swiss archives to find memos filed by Swiss watch reps regarding which brands began sneaking off to have their watches made in Asia in the 1970s. Memos about how Omega was traveling to the USSR to try to stanch bleeding during the quartz crisis by making the Russian market its own (didn't work, obvs). And then how the Chinese took over watchmaking, after the city of Shenzhen was established in 1980...If you've ever wondered why Noob movements were so groundbreaking or daydreamed about the little grey town on the border of North Korea whence DDF movements come (and how is it that they're still alive -- is this a government-protected sanctuary factory? #Peacock), this is the book for you. If you wanna know how the Swiss managed to gut the entire American watch industry first via IP theft and later antitrust pricing control, this is the book for you. A narrative that believes we're seeing a certain sort of karmic payback. In reps not as individual pieces but as collective comeuppance. Out June 29.