The pitfalls of the 1930s

The repercussions of the spectacular collapse in share prices at the New York Stock Exchange on October 24th 1929 sounded the death knell of the boom years and dragged the United States down into an unprecedented crisis affecting all Western economies to varying degrees. At the Longines factory, however, the situation seems to have been perceived as less worrying than at the time of the 1921 crisis, and the managers considered themselves better equipped to face a recession. Nevertheless the crisis spread, seriously affecting the Swiss watchmaking industry, which in addition was having to cope with new competition from American watches which were protected by the prohibitive customs tariffs voted by Congress. Furthermore, the practice of chablonnage, i.e. the exporting of movement blanks and assorted parts, increased and aggravated the threat hovering over the Swiss watchmaking industry as a whole. Indeed the impact was sorely felt at Longines: for the first time ever, the company recorded a serious annual deficit, working hours were shortened, the payment of dividends was deferred, workshops outside the factory were closed and observatory competitions were postponed.

The impact of the recession in the 1930s also led to a reorganisation of the production process, a severe cutback in the number of calibres in production and the design of new movements including a small baguette calibre. At the instigation of Alfred Pfister, Longines adapted its production methods and sought to reduce the cost price of its movements. The crisis gave rise to a remodelling of the structure of the factory. In 1936 the situation improved again for watchmaking in conjunction with the re-opening of the American market, where Longines from then onwards had a reorganised branch operating under the name of the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Co, which once again set about the task of filling up the factory’s order books. After six difficult years marked by the worldwide economic slump, Longines came to the end of the financial year 1936 with a modest profit.