Word: timex
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...have been losing ground to the Japanese, whose watches generally are of somewhat lower quality and command lower prices than the Swiss. Last year Japanese watchmakers accounted for $106 million in exports, and their sales jumped 10% in Europe and 50% in the U.S. Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturers, led by Timex and Bulova, produced 20 million watches last year, but sold only a fraction of them abroad...
...most other watches. Bulova introduced the first marketable quartz-crystal watch in 1970, but its $1,350 cost was prohibitive. Late last year Bulova brought out an improved and cheaper version, the $395 Accuquartz, believed by many to be the best quartz watch on the market. By then Timex had begun marketing a quartz-crystal watch for $125. Hamilton came out with its $2,100 quartz-crystal Pulsar, and last month Japan's Seiko brought its three quartz timepieces to the U.S., the cheapest selling for $450. This week Benrus will introduce the first quartz watch for women. Among...
Depending on the brand of watch, these vibrations control several different mechanisms that turn the hour and minute hands. Bulova uses the electronic tuning fork developed in its Accutron watch, a battery-powered model that is just a shade less accurate than the Accuquartz; Timex employs a conventional balance wheel; Benrus, the Swiss and the Japanese use a "stepdown" motor. Linking these mechanisms to the quartz crystal is an integrated electronic-circuit chip, and U.S. electronic firms are enthusiastically moving to supply the chips to the quartz watch market. Japanese, Swiss and American watchmakers are buying theirs from such firms...
There are a number of disadvantages to quartz watches. They must be returned to the factory to be serviced or repaired, and they are not shockproof. Some, like the Timex, are bulky. Quartz watches are selling regardless, but they are expected to remain too costly for many years to compete in the low-priced market, which accounts for most of the sales. Four-fifths of all watches marketed in the U.S. are priced under $40, while only one out of 20 costs $ 100 or more...
...their richest export market-the U.S.-Swiss watchmakers face rising competition from domestic manufacturers in all price lines. U.S. Time Corp., which prices its Timex models as low as $7.95, claims to sell more than 50% of watches bought in U.S. stores. Bulova, biggest American producer of jeweled-lever watches (1969 sales: $159 million), is an increasingly tough competitor in the medium-and high-priced range. Swiss manufacturers lost their technological lead when Bulova developed the battery-powered Accutron a decade ago. The company has since sold more than 1,500,000 Accutrons and brought the price down...