Switzerland

“So in 6702 years before the Japanese debut of the Seiko Astron, There was a quartz chronometer in a lab at CEH, which is Switzerland's electronics watch laboratory, that was twice as accurate as a mechanical watch.”

“Two percent of units are made in Switzerland, and 45% of the revenue is captured there.”

“This nineteen million watches produced was by 2500 individual companies, 90% of which employed fewer than 50 people.”

“The number of firms fell from 2000 companies in 1960 to fewer than 500 in 1980.”

“86% of Switzerland's watch export comes from mechanical watches.”

“This is a very engineering-heavy industrial thing, and they didn't have to devote any resources to the war because they were completely neutral, and so all of their craftspeople and machinists and everything can keep making watches.”

“At one point, the Swiss actually made up as much as 85% of the world's total wristwatches. 85% of the market they had. This is in 1945, so it's right after the war.”

“Exporting watches was a huge part of the Swiss economy and a huge employer in the nation.”

“All the way back in the 1500, Geneva was a center of activity for the Protestant Christian world led by John Calvin. And if you know anything about Calvinism, it is Very focused on moral uprightness... One of these tenets was banning frivolous things like orna…”