Amsa Form 2009: Fill & Download for Free

The best information resource I could find publicly is the AMSA report from 2009 that you might already have. http://www.pame.is/images/03_Projects/AMSA/AMSA_2009_report/AMSA_2009_Report_2nd_print.pdfI am sure there are a number of places which do track that data, but I doubt it is publicly available. For one, you could try the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), or one of the shipping industry groups like the World Shipping Council. Failing that, perhaps a marine insurance company for the accident data? Sorry I could not be more help.

What is something most people don’t know about the Swiss watch industry?The Great Swiss Watch Plot that gave ETA and Swatch the absolute monopoly on movement-makingWell, there wasn’t a plot: more like a chain of occurrences. But when we hear about the “Swiss quality” and we imagine the Swiss companies as perfectly accountable, organized and trustworthy (and a bit bucolic), we are committing a grave sin of mis-perception.Especially during the 1900s, the Swiss watch industry was - and probably still is - completely corrupt, prey of corporate and personal interests, and sweeping under a beautifully ornated rug a ton of dirt, dust and debris that you do not see, nor possibly want to see.I tell the history of watches and watchmaking in more detail in my book, The Watch Manual (link in bio, you can download an 8-page chapter for free), but here comes a quick sum-up.The majority of Swiss watch companies have passed from one bankruptcy to another, and their shareholders/owners have become very, very rich profiting from the system and the constant help and support from the banks and the Swiss government, which injected in the system a huge load of money to keep it afloat.For example, we should remember that a large number of companies ended up being absorbed into an super-entity known as ASUAG.The organization’s name is an acronym for Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG; in French, Société Générale de l'Horlogerie Suisse SA). ASUAG had been created in 1931, after the Great Depression to collect companies, and it continued to gobble them up in the following years - especially ebauche (blank movements) makers.Take a look at a detailed timeline, from Wiki:1931 - Ebauches SA is a founding member of ASUAG. It includes A. Schild, FHF, and AMSA (three movement manufacturers).1932 - Gebrüder Schild & Co is divided into two parts within ASUAG: Watch production was reorganized as Eterna SA under General Watch Co., while the movement manufacture ETA SA Fabrique d'Ebauches (ETA) became part of Ebauches SA.1932 - Fleurier Watch Co. is split, with movements going to Ebauches SA.1932 - Auguste Reymond is split, with movements (Unitas) going to Ebauches SA and watches (ARSA) in ASUAG.1932 - Manzoni, Moser, and ED Kummer become part of Ebauches SA.1932 - Atlantic becomes part of ASUAG.1933 - Peseux SA becomes part of Ebauches SA.1938 - Champagne becomes part of ASUAG.1941 - Derby becomes part of Ebauches SA.1941 - Precimax and Gigantic become part of ASUAG.1942 - Glycine becomes part of ASUAG.1944 - Valljoux SA becomes part of Ebauches SA.1966 - ASUAG creates Chronos Holding SA, which took over the newly-defunct Cyma and Tavannes brands, as well as taking a stake in Gruen.1966 - Venus is absorbed by Valjoux (Ebauches SA)1967 - Ebauches SA creates Ebauches Electronic SA and begins production of quartz crystals, integrated circuits, and other electronic watch components.1967 - Ebauches SA purchases SEFEA in Annemasse, France and Durowe of Pforzheim, Germany.1968 - ASUAG creates Pierre Holding SA in Bienne for member manufacturers of watch jewels.1968 - Chronos Holding creates Synchron, which includes Cyma, Doxa, and Ernest Borel.1971 - ASUAG begins the creation of General Watch Co. to manage production of complete watches. Seven companies are integrated, including Certina, Edox, Eterna, Mido, Oris, and Technos. Later in 1971, General Watch Co. adds Longines, owner of Record and Rotary.1978 - Cyma is sold by Synchron and moved to the Doxa factory in Le Locle.1979 - ETA SA and A. Schild (AS) are merged to become the modern ETA (Fabrique d'Ebauches ETA. SA) and movement production is focused from 136 to just 40.1979 - ASULAB SA is founded in Neuchâtel to coordinate industrial research for the group.1979 - ASUAG becomes a majority shareholder in Statek Corporation USA, which produces quartz crystals and electronic components.1980 - Synchron is sold, including Doxa, and Ernest Borel.1982 - ETA is expanded to include ETA's Grenchen operations, FHF in Fontainemelon, EEM in Marin, SEFEA in Annemasse, France and Durowe of Pforzheim, Germany.1982 - Oris is reorganized and spun-out in a management buy-out.1982 - Eterna is sold to PCW (Porsche Design) and then to International Volant (now Citychamp, Hong Kong) in 2012.1983 - Swiss banks take expand their stake in ASUAG from 38% to 97.5% on July 29, and merge ASUAG with SSIH in December as Asuag-SSIH.1983 - Edox is spun out in a management buy-out.1984 - Auguste Reymond is spun out in a management buy-out.1985 - A massive reorganization of the Swiss watch industry results in the creation of SMH (Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries Ltd) as a holding company for ASUAG-SSIH and all of its members.1985 - Roamer is spun out in a management buy-out, purchased by Chung Nam in 1994, and reorganized with Swiss Watch Group, Hong Kong in 2009.1991 - SMH acquires PUW Porta of Pforzheim, Germany.In 1983, ASUAG and SSIH were forced by the Swiss Banks to merge into Société de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie (SMH), which was then renamed Swatch Group.The story of SSIH is equally interesting: SSIH stands for Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogére SA (Swiss Watch Manufacturers Association) and was established as a collaboration between Tissot and Omega.Mainly, they decided the relative spheres of influence: Tissot took the low-medium end of the business, and Omega took the high-end. This happened under the management of Paul Tissot-Draguett, who became Omega's Chief Executive Officer in 1930. In 1932, the watch and movement manufacturer Lemania was also added to the group.ASUAG grouped the movement manufacturers in a single company, Ebauches SA. Eventually, Ebauches SA in 1979 became the modern ETA. The watchmaking brands were grouped into the sub-holding General Watch Co. (GWC).This means that in a fell swoop, the newborn Swatch took hold and control of almost all the movement production of Switzerland. Now look at the list of the movement manufacturers that went into ETA:A. Schild (founded Ebauches SA in 1926)FHF (founded Ebauches SA in 1926)Charles Hahn & Cie (joined between 1926 and 1928)Ad. Michel (joined between 1926 and 1928)Guerrin-Bourquin & Cie (joined between 1926 and 1928)Hora/Cortebert (joined between 1926 and 1928)Felsa (joined between 1926 and 1928)Venus (joined between 1926 and 1928)Unitas/A. Reymond (joined between 1926 and 1928)ETA SA (joined 1932)Fleurier Watch Co. (joined 1932)Peseux (joined 1932)Derby (joined 1941)Valjoux (joines (1944)EEM (joined 1982)SEFEA (joined 1982)Annemasse (joined 1982)Durowe (joined 1982)What does this tell us? That ebauche manufacturing was one of the most hardly-hit specialities in watchmaking. After the economic crisises, many movement manufacturers went bust, and were saved by their creditors by banding them up together in one big company (collecting bad debt): Ebauches SA. And the situation became much worse when the companies in Ebauches had to develop the Swiss alternative to the Japanese quartz watch.If you have a passing interest in horology - and if you are reading this possibly you do - you understand that developing a new mechanical movement takes a heavy investment in R&D.To develop a quartz-based movement starting from scratch, you have to invest much, much more - so much that the development of the first SDwiss quartz was made through the effort of the whole industry.You see that black glob on the left? It packs all the controlling functions of the circuit. It is like a micro-processor. Only made (originally) with the technology of the 1970s. Which was 50 years ago. There were no computers back then (except mainframes). Remember to put all of this in context: what seems almost trivial today wasn’t back then - big time. So, people had to develop all of this through drawing on boards, and finding ways to make it for real - in a size which was small enough to be contained in a wristwatch.Possibly this was the last straw that made everything spiral out of control: the development of the Beta 2 quartz movement.During the Quartz Crisis, with the money of the Swiss banks and government, ASUAG and SSIH took almost all of Swiss (and not only) watchmaking, and gave them to one man: Nicolas G. Hayek, the founder/orchestrator/mastermind of the Swatch operation.The number of ebauche movements provided by the industry was sliced: from 136 to 40, technical variety became much poorer, and ETA established a de-facto monopoly over the field (which is never a good thing).As you can see, there are a lot of dirty secrets in the closet of Swiss watchmaking!Are there any positive aspects?This said, after this royal mess, we can see that the industry would have possibly collapsed if there was no Hayek there - we cannot be sure - but the guy took one hell of a payload for his work. So is life, it seems.The positive aspect is that many brands were saved from oblivion: the Quartz Crisis was coincidental with the Depression of the 1970s, and so it was much more tolling on the system. The price to be paid was heavy, however, and many companies were sold, downsized, or had to be shut down.But the current state of the watchmaking industry, while not florid, is decidedly interesting, as many new companies are cropping up and selling their wares to the public.The issue is that they are not followed by the technical industry for now: there are very few movement manufacturers still, while the request would be huge, especially for having a choice. Still, this is an aspect that is lacking, and I feel that it will be lacking for some time in the future.This answer contains self-promotional references.