SSIH

SSIH, the Société suisse pour l’industrie horlogère, was formed in 1930 by Omega of Biel and Tissot of Le Locle, two makers of finished watches.^1, 2, 3

By the Grail Watch reference wiki’s account, Paul Tissot and Gustave Brandt began talking of a merger in 1928, the plan was ratified on 24 February 1930 and the company was registered in Geneva on 8 March 1930; Wikipedia gives 24 February as the day it was created.^7, 8

Wikipedia says the merger agreement gave Omega the luxury market and Tissot the middle of the market.⁸

It was a group of finished-watch makers, where ASUAG, formed a year later, gathered the parts makers. The Swatch Group calls SSIH the largest Swiss watch company of its day and ASUAG the largest maker of movements.^3, 4

Wikipedia and the Grail Watch wiki both date the arrival of the chronograph maker Lemania, of L’Orient in the Vallée de Joux, to 1932; the Grail Watch wiki says SSIH bought it on 1 June 1932 to secure chronograph movements for Omega’s timing of the Los Angeles Olympics.^7, 8

SSIH bought Hamilton, the American firm that had moved its movement making to Switzerland. Wikipedia dates the purchase to 1971 in one place and 1974 in another, the Grail Watch wiki gives 1974, and the Swatch Group gives no year.^6, 7, 9

Donzé writes that SSIH diversified widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, above all into cheap mechanical watches through the Economic Swiss Time company, which could not compete on the world market. The Grail Watch wiki dates that purchase to 1971 and lists Rayville, the maker of Blancpain, among the group’s companies.^4, 7

Donzé counts ASUAG and SSIH in 1979 at gross sales of 1.3 billion and 815 million francs, far ahead of the next firms, and together employing about half the Swiss watch workforce; he adds that their weight owed much to the crisis that had struck the others.⁴

Donzé records SSIH’s fall between 1974 and 1982: sales from 12.4 million watches to 1.9 million, gross sales from 733 million francs to 537 million, and staff from 7,300 to 3,400.⁴

Donzé writes that the banks kept it going with credit and a hand in management: a restructuring committee led by the Union Bank of Switzerland, the Swiss Bank Corporation and Credit Suisse was set up in 1980, and in 1981 a former UBS director, Peter Gross, became chairman.⁴

Between 1981 and 1983 the Swiss banks put more than 900 million francs into SSIH and ASUAG, hoping to withdraw as soon as they could.^1, 4

The merger with ASUAG was agreed in 1983 as part of ASUAG’s rescue; SSIH brought 100 million of the merged group’s 300 million francs of share capital. The Grail Watch wiki dates the announcement to 23 May 1983 and the formation of ASUAG-SSIH to December.^1, 5, 7

The merged company was renamed SMH in 1985, as the Swatch Group dates it, and the Swatch Group in 1998; the group still owns Omega, Tissot and Hamilton.^1, 3, 4

Donzé writes that Blancpain, a brand that had belonged to SSIH, was bought in 1983 for 18,000 francs by Jean-Claude Biver and Jacques Piguet; the Swatch Group records that SMH bought it back with Frédéric Piguet in 1992.^3, 4