![]() When the Soviets cordoned off East Germany and socialized all the watch companies, it forced what was left of the industry to become self-sufficient. German brands got to a similar point through a much different route. Eventually, big players moved the experts from these areas and put them under one roof – refining the process further. And given that each valley was separate, pockets of expertise around very specific parts of a watch began to emerge. When the fields were too cold to farm in the winter, peasants in the valleys would keep themselves busy putting together watch components. Switzerland is a country of high peaks, low valleys, and cold winters. This type of production – smaller shops producing specific components or functions necessary for a watch, and then shipping them to a central factory to be assembled – was in part a response to the country’s geographic and meteorologic quirks. The country became so well known as watch makers because, over the course of a century or two, they developed a style of production called ‘etablissage’. More than we’d like to admit, the context in which something is made plays an essential role in how it comes together.
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