General Watch Co


General Watch Co. was the watch companies holding of ASUAG.

History

ASUAG had been founded in 1931, with the assistance of the Swiss government and the Swiss banks, to combat the severe economic crisis and ensuing unemployment by means of refinancing and complementary research and development programs in their respective companies.
Its mandate was to maintain, improve and develop the Swiss watch industry.
ASUAG also expanded gradually through the purchase of ebauches manufactures, movement parts manufactures and a number of assemblers and manufacturers of complete watches, that were subsequently brought together under the subsidiary “GWC General Watch Co. Ltd.”

Affiliated watch brands and companies

However, it proved difficult to implement a common industrial policy for the subsidiaries concerned. Following repeated crises in the Swiss watch industry, by the 1970s ASUAG was once again in trouble. Foreign competition, in particular the Japanese watch industry, with its mass production of cheap new electronic products and new technology, was rapidly establishing a strong foothold in the market.
Eventually, both ASUAG and SSIH faced amalgamation: thus, in 1983 “GWC General Watch Co.” and its affiliated watch brands and factories, were merged with its parent company ASUAG, together with SSIH, creating the ASUAG/SSIH entity, later renamed SMH under the patronage of the Swiss Banks that were at the time financially involved.

Spin-offs

Some companies had however beforehand made themselves again independent or having been sold off, namely: