THE COMEBACK OF SWISS WATCHES
With the quartz takeover the Swiss watch industry kept on losing ground and companies kept shutting down, the production was hitting it's low and unemployment within the watch industry was at its highest, this is where Oswaldo Patrizzi stepped in, Patrizzi was “co-founder of Galerie d’Horlogerie Ancienne, a pocket watch dealer and auction house in Geneva, noticed that pocket watch collectors were expressing interest in vintage wristwatches”. People were assuming that the death of the Swiss watches industry was inevitable and few started collecting the watches by showing interest in vintage wristwatches. Oswaldo founded Antiquorum, this was followed by Christie's and Sotheby’s which also started the auction of watches. In 1982 Jean Claude Biver had left Omega and was looking for ways of reviving the Swiss watch industry and fumbled upon “Blancpain”, Biver bought the rights of Blancpain for $9,000/- and ran the most inspiring advertisement of its time. “Since 1735, there has never been a quartz Blancpain watch. And there never will be.” The sales of Blancpain watches grew as the client wanted to be a part of history and tradition and wanted to own a mechanical timepiece and had the appetite to pay for it also. 1985 also saw the rise of new watchmakers who would be known as independent watchmakers and AHCI Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants) was founded. By late 1980s the vintage watch market was booming. In 1989 on its 150 anniversary Patek Philippe delivered caliber 89, with 1728 parts, it was the most complicated mechanical watch ever made, surpassing the legendary Graves pocket watch.
Finally, the wristwatches were making a comeback and this was the time of conglomerates that had sensed the importance of Swiss watches, its history, and heritage and could envision making this a uber-luxury game in few years. By 1990 to Swiss watch exports were up by 44% with a turnover of $1.5 billion. In 1991 IWC unveiled the world’s first grand complication wristwatch with a price tag of $150,000/-. During 2004-2005, 117 new tourbillon watches were introduced.
More and more independent watchmakers were launching their own brands now, Philippe Dufour in 1989, Daniel Roth in 1989, Frank Muller in 1992, Michel Parmigiani in 1996, Felix Baumgartner in 1997, Vianney Halter in 1998, F.P. Journe in 1998, Richard Mille in 1998, Max Busser in 2005 and many more followed.
The nineties became the decade of takeover and taking luxury watches to next level, in 1996 Richemont acquired Vacheron Constantin, in 1997 Panerai, in 1999 Van Cleef & Arpels, in 2000 Yaeger-LeCoultre, IWC Schaffhausen and A. Lange & S?hne.In 1999 LVMH purchased TAG Heuer, Ebel, Chaumet, Zenith. In the year 2000 Swatch group purchased Jacquet Droz, Glashutte Original. Few brands managed to remain independent like Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Audemars Piguet.