ABSTRACT
The second part of the 20th century was characterized by deep technological changes in watch production. These were the basis of the competitiveness of Japanese companies in world markets. Historiography and collective memory especially remember the development of quartz watches as the major innovation which enabled Japan to establish itself as the number one watch nation in the world. Yet it is necessary to focus primarily on the organization of production systems for mechanical watches as they were implemented during the 1950s and the 1960s: i.e. the mass production of high-quality goods. This hybrid system of production and the advent of quartz watches were indeed the two major technological challenges the global watch industry faced after 1945. These two innovations – a product innovation and a process innovation – made it possible for Hattori and Citizen to challenge the domination exerted by Swiss watch companies until then. Besides, these innovations were realized within a changing environment characterized by a trend of industrial relocation and globalization of production systems, especially since the 1960s.
