AW: “Our adventure begins in 1956 in Zurich, when we decided, with my friend Joseph Ollech, to open a new watch store, Ollech & Wajs Zürich, or OWZ. We sold Omega and Breitling brands. A little later, our fancy and our obstinacy pushed us to produce our own watches by buying the components piece by piece. Then, in 1964, we launched the production of military-grade watches, following the suggestion of a young American soldier. The latter advised us to make a solid watch, waterproof, accurate and reliable, that could replace the usual Hamilton watch and become the accessory-companion of US Army soldiers. Initially, we targeted this production at American GIs, who would prove to be our most frequent customers, starting in 1965”.
AW: “We bought very solid cases at ‘Maison Bouille’, which later became ‘Etienne’. We bought dials at the ‘Brothers Lender of Le Locle’, the hands in La Chaux-de-Fonds at ‘Universo’, and finally the automatic chronograph calibres came from ‘Maison Dubois Dépraz’, who supplied Patek Philippe. We also worked a lot with the Valjoux 72B movements, which were used in the Rolex Daytona at the time. At first, we were doing the assembly ourselves in our workshop in Zurich. We immediately had great success with the American military before, during and even after the Vietnam War. We sold our watches in US battalion shops all over the world”.
AW: “We produced between 8,000 and 10,000 pieces a year. We also sold OW watches to the French forces, including Air Force pilots”.
AW: “After the Vietnam War, we saw a significant drop in demand. We adapted and launched other models and bought inventory and tooling from the Breitling brand for the Navitimer pilot watch, the flagship model of the brand. Note from the author: When Breitling was liquidated in 1978, Ollech & Wajs, Sinn and Patek Philippe acquired the tools and stocks”.
AW: “We were among the first to release a diving watch tested at a depth of 1,000 meters, with a graduated rotating bezel that allowed calculation of divers’ decompression time, which, for the time, was a technological achievement”.
AW: “Indeed, American soldiers and even entire regiments ordered hundreds of OW chronographs very regularly. They have shown their gratitude in many letters over the years. Yes, NASA officials, including Mr. Von Braun, actually wore an OW watch”.
AW: “I was convinced that there was still a market for quality mechanical watches, so I gradually introduced a new range of watches, including the flagship OW Mirage models, which benefit from the Valjoux 7750 and 7733 calibres. With my vision declining, I finally made the decision to put my business up for sale in 2016”.