When Switzerland became the watch capital

Switzerland is the center of the watch industry as most of the elite watchmakers, watch production companies and their boutiques are located there. It is a heaven for horologists and watch experts. Well, it was not the case till the early nineteenth century. Before that, the United Kingdom dominated the watchmaking industry. 

(First tourbillon, made in 1801)

What made Switzerland the watch hub?

The beginning of the nineteenth century was the Napoleonic era in France and most of Europe. In this era, Napoleon Bonaparte was the Emperor of France. As he was expanding his empire, the differences with the United Kingdom led to the stop of all of their trade routes with the European continent. Because of this, the English watchmakers failed to keep up with the pace of changing technologies in timekeeping techniques making the Swiss watches the most advanced in technology and as well as aesthetics. The innovations of the Swiss watchmakers of this time period can be seen as the height of the prolific growth of the watch industry.

(wrist watch, made in 1810 for Queen of Naples)

Impacts of the watch industry in Switzerland?

In the middle of the eighteenth century, there were five thousand out of twenty-five thousand inhabitants of Geneva working in watch companies. Later in the nineteenth century, half of the Geneva citizens’ were working either in the watch companies or were somehow connected to it. Not only this, the annual production of watches increased from a few thousands to a few hundreds of thousands.

(One of the first Chronometer made in 1820)

This shift in the watch-making industry was a time-stone that till today holds Swiss watches as the most remarkable and most sought after in the entire watch industry.