CHEAP WATCHES

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 449, 3 June 1937, Page 2

CHEAP WATCHES

NEW SOVIET INDUSTRY Teh Thousand Workers London, May 15. A significant indication of the extent to which the Swiss watchmaking industry has suffered from the economic depression was provided at the week-end when thirty families, drlawn from the district. surrounding Le Locle and La Chaux-de-fonds, in th e Canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland, left for Soviet Russia. . They were the first contingent of u large party of watchmaking experts wliq are to start a new Soviet fac- . tory. According to reports forwarded by th_ Geneva correspondent of th e Observer, it will employ 10,000 workers, and will be the first stage in the development of a vast industry supplying cheap watches, not only for the Russian home market, but also for export. The factory is to b e at Samara, on the Riyer Volga, and the Swiss watchmakers will form a special corps for the training of Russian specialists. Their contract provides tor one month’s leav e in Switzerland at the end of two years, but only for one member of each family. The other members, must remain in Russian territory while the fortunate one is away. One Swiss who left at the week-end took with him his eight children.

The Le Locle and Chaux-de.Fonds district is the chief centre o t the watchmaking industry in Switzerland. Both cites' have suffered severely from the crisis, and even the transformation of some of the- establishments into radio factories has failed to absorb the- large number of skilled workers, throwh out of .employment. Last year the Swiss Federal authorities intervened when the Soviet entered into a contract with a, wellknown firm to lend a number of its technicians to found the new industry in Russia. This intervention has now been circumvented by the Russian Government approaching the workers direct. Swiss political and industrial circles are not unnaturally alarmed at the possibilities of future intense trad- e rivalry opened, up by this new development.