Business of Time

The business of time explores the evolution of the global watch industry from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, offering a comprehensive history of the sector.

Watch production today is concentrated in three countries: Switzerland for luxury products, Japan for mid-range and China for mass-produced. The industry is dominated by a dozen large companies, most of them organised on a global scale. But a hundred years ago the picture was quite different. Throughout the twentieth century, countries such as Great Britain, France and the United States saw the industrial manufacture of watches disappear from their territory, while Hong Kong went from being a subcontractor to an intermediary between China and the world market.

Highlighting the conditions that enabled watch production to spread around the globe, The business of time explains how multinationals came to dominate the industry and how Swiss companies established themselves as the undisputed leader in luxury watches.