The following is taken from the Swatch Group (http://www.swatchgroup.com/group/) website, under HISTORY. Each section currently represents 3 webpages.

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Past

ASUAG was founded in 1931, SSIH a year earlier through the amalgamation of Omega and Tissot.

SSIH's principal aim was to sell selectively and exclusively good quality Swiss productions. By taking over companies that produced high-quality movements and various other brands in the lower price segment, SSIH gradually managed to establish a strong position as a Swiss watch manufacturer.

Both groups included watch brands and companies which are between 150 years and 200 years old. Meanwhile, according to the company's statutes, ASUAG's main purpose was to maintain, improve and develop the Swiss watch industry. ASUAG also gradually expanded through the purchase of other companies that made movement-blanks and later firms manufacturing finished watches, which merged to form the subsidiary GWC General Watch Co. Ltd.

Both companies endeavored to combat the major economic crisis and ensuing unemployment of the 1930's through complementary research and development programs in their respective companies. It proved difficult for both ASUAG and SSIH to implement a common industrial policy for the subsidiaries concerned. In the 1970's, after repeated crises in the Swiss watch industry, the two largest firms in this sector, which were among the largest watch manufacturers in the world, were once again in trouble. Foreign competition, in particular the Japanese watch industry, with its mass production of cheap new electronic products and new technology, was rapidly establishing a strong foothold in the market.

Finally both ASUAG and SSIH faced liquidation. Already some foreign competitors were offering to buy prestigious watch brand names such as Omega, Longines, Tissot, and others. Nicolas G. Hayek, today Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Swatch Group and at that time CEO of Hayek Engineering, received an assignment to assess the chances of survival and to develop a strategy for the future of both companies. In 1983, as a result of the soon renown Hayek Study, several measures were recommended to be implemented to turn around the companies. The most famous were the merger of Asuag and SSIH into SMH and the launching of a low-cost, high-tech, artistic emotional watch - the Swatch. These measures, together with the take-over of the majority of the shares through the Hayek Pool and the nomination of Nicolas G. Hayek as CEO, not only created new possibilities and a new culture, but made the SMH Group the largest watchmaking company (in value) five years later.

Present

The Swatch Group Ltd. in Biel (Switzerland) is today the largest manufacturer of finished watches in the world. In terms of sales (in Swiss francs) the Swatch Group represents 22-25% of the watch production sales in the world. In 1998 the Group produced more than 118 million watches, movements and stepping motors, representing 3,27 billion Swiss francs in yearly sales. The Swatch Group has some fifty production centers situated mainly in Switzerland, but also in France, Germany, Italy, USA, Virgin Islands, Thailand, Malaysia and China - over 440 reporting units.

The Swatch Group is synonym for durable, emotional consumer products of high quality. With its own worldwide network of distribution organizations, the Group is active in the manufacture of finished watches, movements and components (e.g. ETA). It produces practically all the components necessary to its fourteen watch companies. The Swatch Group offers watches in all price and market categories:

• Blancpain and Omega, in the luxury and prestige segment
• Rado and Longines in the top range
• Tissot, Certina, Mido, Balmain, Hamilton and Calvin Klein in the middle segment
• Swatch, FlikFlak, and Lanco in the so-called basic segment
• and Endura produces "private label" watches whose prices vary according to the customer's wishes

But the Swatch Group is not only a watchmaking group. Research and development of state-of-the-art products and technologies play a major role in its activities. Microelectronics (e.g. EM Microelectronic-Marin - low power, low-voltage) and micromechanics represent another important part of its operations. The Swatch Group is also active in the service sector (including sports timing which measures the time at most of the Olympic Games and multiple international sports events) and in the field of telecommunications and the automobile sector.

The Swatch Group adopted its present name in 1998 (since 1986 it had been called SMH Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries Ltd. The change has been made because of the difficulty in adapting the name and its the abbreviation "SMH" into other languages). The group was founded in 1983 through the merging of the two Swiss watch manufacturers ASUAG and SSIH.

Future

The principal focus of today's largest manufacturer of finished watches in the world will remain the watch industry. The Group's various subsidiary companies supply movements and components not only to Swatch Group brands but also to the entire Swiss watch industry, as well as to some manufacturers outside Switzerland.

The Swatch Group also delivers high-tech components to other sectors such as computers, telecommunications, medical applications, automotive industry and electronics. Its production of low-power chips at EM Marin, quartz at Micro-Crystal and batteries at Renata is expanding very strongly.

With its products Swatch Access (wireless access control), Swatch Talk (the telephone in the watch) and Swatch Telecom, Swatch is entering the telecom business to exploit its vast experience, know-how and production capacities in micromechanics and microelectronics.