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Between
the wars, the Swiss watch industry experienced a severe
economic downturn, loosing over a third of its export
volume in less then two years. Making effective use of
unassembled watch movement parts imported from Switzerland
and cheaper labour (one hours work in Germany against
two to three francs in Switzerland ), foreign manufacturers
were able to undercut Swiss watch prices by a wide margin.
In 1931, Vacheron Constanin's workshops were active only
18 hours a week while the legal workweek was 48 hours,
down from 52½ at the turn of the century.
Both
management and labour did everything they could to help
Vacheron Constantin through those dark and difficult
days. Some of them even accepted a wage cut to enable
the company to keep as many people as possible on the
payroll. Everything having a silver lining, management
did make use of this slack period to reorganize its
premises and modernize its internal services, decisions
which were to prove profitable later.
Despite
the precarity of prevailing economic conditions, Vacheron
Constantin did not weaver in its determination to make
and to sell only the finest timepieces imaginable. Unlike
many manufacturers, who preferred to lower their quality
standards for the sake of competitiveness, Vacheron
chose the high road. The company offered its services
to other industries, making cutting tools for the Societe
des Instruments de Physique and even selling goods to
the local gasworks and a shoe factory!
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