How the Swiss begged for the Chinese to heist their IP -- my new book
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​