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In parallel to the differentiation of the ‘Delirium’ concept into different iterations, Ernst Thomke of ETA and Paul Renggli of ASUAG directed their teams to also leverage the ‘Delirium Tremens‘ design into a more practical and less expensive watch. As Thomke said at that time (1):
“The future is in innovative finished products, aggressive marketing, volume sales, and vertical integration in the industry.”
The ‘Delirium Vulgare’ (Delirium for the masses), as the concept was named, stalled at ETA until one fateful day of 1980: Engineer Elmar Mock’s friend and also engineer Jacques Müller, an expert on inexpensive mechanical watches, joined Mock in the study for the introduction of plastic elements for watches. They gathered seven patents, but Mock could not ensure a proper quality with the machine they were using, so Mock wanted to apply for the purchase of a more modern but expensive Netstal plastic-injection machine (2).
The investment would be 500’000 CHF. As Ernst Thomke got the forms to approve the investment, he wanted to have exact facts to make a decision, so he scheduled a meeting with Mock on Thursday the 27.3.1980 at 13:00h. Mock got informed at 11:00h of the same day about the meeting, this left him about two hours to get his concept ready. He got back to Müller and together they came up with the idea of a plastic watch, where, as for the ‘Delirium’, the base of the plastic case would carry the movements components. A Plexiglas crystal should then be hermetically welded on top of it (2).
Mock and Müller managed to grab a pink and a blue pen to draw some sketches, with which Mock then rushed to Thomke for the 13:00h meeting. Thomke was already in a bad mood before the meeting, so when Mock presented him his idea, Thomke asked him if he was mad wanting to spend half a million Swiss Francs for a useless machine. Mock explained that they would be able to produce in an automated way inexpensive plastic watches with it and handed over the sketch he and Müller had made (2).
Thomke took a glimpse of the sketch, realised the ingenuity of the idea, but said nothing. He confiscated the sketch with the comment, the idea would be completely wacky, as other engineers would already work on a similar project for two years with no results.
Shortly after, Mock’s direct supervisor Urs Giger stepped into his office, telling him that Thomke wants Mock to be freed from all his responsibilities. He and Müller would get the new injection machine and would get six months to work on that plastic-watch project up to building a prototype in all secrecy. That was a triumph for Mock and Müller. They moved to a hidden office at ETA and worked 18 hours per day for seven days a week. In December 1980 five prototypes were presented, which worked perfectly, after having solved all kind of problems. Mock and Müller had created an amazing product with just 800’000 CHF of initial investment. Despite some changes, the basic concept remained the same until this day (2).
Swatch was officially launched the 1.3.1983 (2).
Ref.:
Electric Watch Prototypes 