ETA

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Template:Hersteller-MenueWV Template:Image ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse (commonly called ETA) is the best-known Swiss ebauche movement manufacturer. Part of the Swatch Group, ETA traces its lineage to 1793, though the name dates only to 1932.

History

ETA emerged as a holding company for the majority of Swiss watch movement production in the 20th century. As such, it can trace its roots to some of the earliest factories in Switzerland. In 1793, Isaac and David Benguerel, Julien and Francois Humbert-Droz founded the first factory for ebauche movements, Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon (FHF), in Fontainemelon, Canton of Neuchâtel. FHF began industrial production of watch movements in 1816, and this date is another appropriate beginning point for ETA, since FHF was absorbed into the company in 1982.

The true beginning of ETA is 1856, when Urs Schild and Dr. Joseph Girard founded an ebauche factory in Grenchen. This company would become Eterna, which was split 76 years later to become ETA. Also in Grenchen, in 1896, Adolf Schild founds the ebauche company A. Schild (AS), where the first cylinder and pin lever movements are produced.

On December 27 1926, A. Schild AG (AS or ASSA) and Adolphe Michel SA (AMSA) of Grenchen and Fabrique d' Horlogerie de Fontainemelon (FHF) of Fontainemelon agree to join together to form Ebauches SA. This holding company, registered on December 30 and going into effect on the first day of 1927, is intended to bring order to the chaotic watch movement manufacturing industry, and it expands rapidly. Soon, Ebauches SA is the largest producer of watch movement blanks in Switzerland.

ETA, ASUAG, and Ebauches SA

In 1931, Ebauches SA joins with many other Swiss companies to create ASUAG, a larger holding company. Eterna joins this conglomerate in 1932, but is split in two to match the overall organizational structure of ASUAG:

  • Eterna SA manufactures whole watches
  • ETA SA Fabriques d'Ebauches manufactures watch ebauche movements

This is the true birth of ETA, with the name and purpose firmly established. Over the following years, many other companies are absorbed into ASUAG/Ebauches SA and the cartel dictates which are allowed to produce each type of movement. Thanks to their research into automatic movements with Eterna, ETA is one of the few companies within this group to be allowed to produce automatic movements in the 1950's. Along with A. Schild and Felsa, ETA is considered a high-end movement maker and supplies many of the companies that exist even today.

The quartz crisis causes another contraction in the industry in the 1970's and, in 1979, A. Schild is merged into ETA to become the largest ebauche movement manufacturer in the world. Three years later, FHF (owner of Landeron) is brought into ETA along with other ebauche makers. Finally, in 1983, Ebauches SA is dissolved and most of the remaining companies, including Unitas, Peseux, and Valjoux (successor of Venus), join ETA.

ETA as part of the Swatch Group

ASUAG merged with rival SSIH in 1983, and the result was reorganized as SMH in 1985. This was the predecessor to the modern Swatch Group, the world's largest watch company.

ETA remained as the primary provider of individual movement parts, tools, kits and complete watch movements within and outside the Swatch Group. The kits are still processed, refined and sometimes provided with additional features by some manufacturers. ETA is also the primary source for balance springs, assortments, and other critical components to the Swiss watch industry.

ETA launched a new sub-brand, Valgranges in 2005. The name, derived from Valjoux and "Granges" or Grenchen, reflects the nature of the products, a range of larger movements derived from the Valjoux 7750.

Restricting the Sale of Watch Movements

In July 2002, ETA management announced that it would reduce sales of unfinished movements outside the Swatch Group as of 2003 and cease all sales in 2006. The company would only sell finished movements, forcing other companies to pay far higher prices and eliminating finishers of ETA ebauches. The explosion of new and re-born Swiss watch companies in the 1990s and 2000s is built primarily on ETA movement production and expertise, and this impacts sales of Swatch Group companies. Additionally, it is unhealthy for the industry to have a single source for critical components. This move followed widespread criticism that the Swatch Group monopolized production of balance springs through Nivarox.

At this time, Swatch Group produced 80% of all Swiss watch movements (though Hayek claimed it was "97%", ignoring Rolex), 90% of the market for assortiments and related components, and a large share of the production of watch hands (Universo), sapphire crystals (Comadur), and micro-mechanical components (Valdar). Only Rolex was able to produce watch movements independently, and companies like Sellita, Soprod, and Jaquet SA were entirely reliant on ETA ebauches.

COMCO took up the case on November 4, with Swatch Group announcing a compromise two years later, promising continue volume shipments of unfinished ebauches until 2008 with a two year phase-out following. Yet in November of 2002, just after this announcement, ETA increased the price of ETA ebauches by 25%. This move was unsuccessfully contested to COMCO by Sellita.

Despite the accord, ETA announced in 2006 that it was operating at maximum capacity and could not fill additional orders for unfinished watch movements. By this time a number of "clone" movements were available that did not use many (if any) Swatch Group components. The most popular was the SW 200 and SW 300 from Sellita, which together had captured 30% of the market. Other producers of clone or ETA-compatible movements included STT (formerly Progress Watch) and SFP (Soprod). La Joux-Perret (formerly Jaquet SA) was rising in the higher-end movement space and planned to launch mainstream in-house movements as well. Technotime (formerly France Ebauches) also planned a line of fresh in-house mechanical movements. A. Lange & Söhne, Parmigiani Fleurier, and Rolex were producing their own balance springs as well.

A sharp decline in watch sales in 2008 and 2008 exacerbated the issue. ETA increased prices by 15% to make up for declining orders from third parties, and this matter was again brought to COMCO. On December 18, 2009, Nicolas Hayek declared that ETA would request official permission to halt third-party sales of watch movements, escapement parts, and springs from COMCO. Hayek promised that only "loyal, serious, and long-standing clients" would still be able to order, but not upstarts and competitors. Concerned about their future, most other groups had invested in other movement supplies or in-house designs. In 2010 COMCO announced that it would allow this sales restriction to go into effect in 2012.

In 2013, the COMCO secretariat announced that it would allow third-party sales of ETA movements to drop to just 20% of current levels by 2020. This coincided with an announcement that 60% of the value of a watch must come from Switzerland to be considered Swiss Made. This decision was rejected by the COMCO committee in July and yet reinstated on October 21, with a slow reduction schedule in 2014, 2016, and 2018. Nivarox was ordered to continue selling balance springs, since COMCO was unsure of the viability of alternative suppliers.

Amid market struggles in 2016, ETA surprised the industry by increasing delivery of movements to third parties. This caused issues for the many smaller competitors who were coming to market to compete with the dominant firm. Incredibly, ETA was banned by COMCO from selling movements to third parties in 2020, a decision that was quickly reversed.

As of 2024, Sellita is the leading supplier of watch movements to volume producers outside the Swatch Group with many other alternative products fighting for market share. ETA has cancelled the sale of most common movements outside the group and is focused on developing specialized variants and custom movements for internal companies.

Current Products

ETA is well-known as a producer of many watch movements, but the following are particularly popular today:

For more information, please see ETA calibres

See Also

Literature

  • Das große Uhren-ABC, Band 1, Firmen, Geschichte, Uhrwerke, Uhren-Lexikon, Technik; Authors: Gerhard Claußen , Karl-Hermann Ströde; ISBN 3980367509
  • Das große Uhren-ABC, Band 2, Firmen, Uhrwerke, Technik; Authors: Gerhard Seelen, Karl-Hermann Ströde, Edda Gräfje; ISBN 3980367517

Weblinks

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