It’s the story of Waltham, the world’s premier watch company in 1876.\u00a0 The Waltham managers knew they were the best in the world, and the company (or rather, its management) couldn’t resist rubbing the world’s nose in Waltham’s preeminence at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.\u00a0 Although it’s counterintuitive today, the Swiss in those days were the world’s worst watchmakers, but the 1876 Philadelphia event made them sit up and take notice.\u00a0 One Swiss agent in particular, Jacques David, recognized Waltham’s supremacy and took every bit of info he could back to Europe.\u00a0 His industrial espionage remained a secret for the next century.<\/p>\n
The Swiss were slow to pick up on the message David brought back, but they eventually did.\u00a0 Waltham chased low cost reliability; the Swiss had a better strategy and pursued exclusivity (doing do allowed significantly higher profit margins).\u00a0 Within a generation, the Swiss were in the driver’s seat with their superiority marketing strategy and by copying some of the concepts they stole from Waltham, and the Swiss dominance has continued to this day.\u00a0 Think Rolex, Patek, and more.\u00a0 Waltham?\u00a0 They are but a distant memory, but a memory I have no problem remembering, as you can see from my earlier blog on Poppy’s watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Disrupting Time<\/a> is a fascinating story, and Stark tells it well.\u00a0 \u00a0You should pick up a copy.\u00a0 You can thank me later.<\/p>\n More watch blogs?\u00a0 You can see them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PoppyWatch.jpg\")
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