Word: cartels
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...peaceful Swiss were up in arms against the U.S. last week. The battle was touched off by the U.S. Justice Department, which filed an antitrust suit in Manhattan accusing Switzerland's watch cartel and U.S. watch importers of conspiring to control production and fix prices in the U.S. Reaching out across 3,850 miles to name Switzerland's proudest and most respected watchmakers* as coconspirators, the Justice Department charged...
...Bulova Watch Co. and Gruen Watch Co., in exchange for Swiss movements and parts, agreed to limit their U.S. manufacturing, import from no country except Switzerland, permit a cartel-hired accountant to audit their books...
...agency of Foote, Cone & Belding conspired with the cartel to police American importers of watches and parts...
...suit actually revealed nothing new. U.S. watchmakers have long known that the only way to buy Switzerland's low-cost movements ($4 for 17 jewels v. $10.50 for the same U.S.-made movement) and parts is through the decades-old cartel. The Swiss not only control sales of their watches, they also control sales of their top-quality watchmaking machinery, thus restrict watch manufacturing all over the world. While such obstacles to competition are against antitrust laws in the U.S., they are not illegal in Switzerland...
Duttweiler's successful price-cutting has frequently brought trouble from his cartel-minded competitors. But "Dutti," as he is fondly known to his customers, was never fazed by that. When manufacturers of standard brands refused to sell to his cut-rate "Migros" (like demigros, i.e., semi-wholesale) stores, he set up his own factories to turn out everything from soap to noodles. When newspapers turned down his ads, he started a paper of his own. When the government passed laws directed against him and his stores, he formed his own political party, was elected to the Swiss parliament...