The Swiss scam of "Swiss made"

Aquagraph

I don't honestly think there's too much that the Chinese wouldn't have figured out themselves by now. It's a huge problem because everything is getting faked now, even cheap plastic things... the whole system of business and manufacturing was kind of based on the idea that every country respected IP. But China have well and truly screwed that up.

RockBurner

It doesn't help that everything is now made in China because their labour and production costs are artificially low.

Even when companies KNOW that the Chinese will copy their IP, they still chase the profit margins by manufacturing over there.

I was working for Cambridge Audio 30 years ago, we designed hi-fi units in London and had them made in Shenzen. The Chinese would proudly show us the knock-off units they made for their own internal markets using exactly the same circuitry as we had in our units, albeit with lower-cost components (because they still "worked"), and then CA even compounded the error by buying the knock-off units and having them re-branded for the UK market!! Utter madness.

tcy148

bracelets were stamped made in Hong Kong on them. Still "Swiss made" though

tcy148

It's not artificially low wages - Their wages are lower because China is still technically a developing country. Their production costs are still competitive now but a lot of factories have already moved or outsourced to south east Asia as the wages there are even cheaper.
It isn't China's fault that some western companies wanted to make their products at the cheapest possible price.

Even in the 70s Heuer bracelets were outsourced to a company here in Hong Kong. You will see that a lot of old Autavia bracelets were stamped made in Hong Kong on them. Still "Swiss made" though.

bpsmith

It’s not China’s fault, it’s their choice, with their deliberate pegging of currency exactly for this reason! 😉

tcy148

Maybe, but if Western companies had other options, i.e. another country that had equally low wages and costs, equally high capacity and consistent quality of manufacturing they would have set up factories in those other countries already. There isn't an alternative. Not yet at least.

bpsmith

China were very clever when setting this up to control the world as far production is concerned. No doubt about it.

They didn’t always have consistency and capacity. This takes decades and that’s the clear barrier to others doing the same.

Ultimately the fault lies with the consumer for wanting ever more products and expecting them at the lowest of prices. Manufacturers and brand names in the middle are only acting on that expectation, whether we like it or not.

bpsmith

Ultimately the fault lies with the consumer for wanting ever more products and expecting them at the lowest of prices

Jim Dollares

In some cases yes but when we spend 5-15k on a Swiss made watch actually manufactured in china, the blame is solely to be put on the greedy owners and executives of the companies trying to maximise their profits while misleading the consumers

bpsmith

When a country pegs its currency so low compared to others, there’s no wonder they can afford to fake even relatively cheaper items.

Nobody is challenging them for their production of fakes, as they’re far too afraid that China will no longer sell to us very cheaply and so we will be held over a barrel as no longer make much at all ourselves!

R Rizzla36

I hear this complaint so much. One day they wont force their currency to be so low and we're all gonna be f****d. The reason why china produces so much fakes is because companies go to china to get stuff made. The machinary and workforce makes its way into the fake market so they can produce things so well.