1980
- The Italian Carlo Crocco founds the watch manufacturer MDM Genève, which is later renamed to Hublot, accoding to the best known model of the brand.
- At the climax of the quartz crisis, the creditor banks of the SSIH mandate the marketing specialist Nicolas Hayek to restructure the group.
- Hellmut Wempe dares, with the opening of a Wempe branch in New York's Fifth Avenue, the big step up to the international stage.
- ETA introduces the Delirium IV, which measures just 0.96 mm thick.