ETA Finally Stopping Movement Kit Sales

It's been known for some time that the Swatch Group, parent company of ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse, has wanted to stop the sale of it's Ebauches and it's unbranded movements. The Swiss government put a stop on it early 2006 mid 2005 asking the Swatch Group to allow other movement makers to fill the ETA vacuum and to keep as many (if not all) watchmakers in their jobs. Well ETA settled with a 2 year full-tilt plan then an additional 2 year phasing-out. ETA after 2010 will supply parts to fix the movements and completed movements stamped with the ETA logo.

What led to ETA to this measure? A few things:
1. Watch companies sued ETA numerous times about the quality of the movement kits.
2. The same watch companies sued ETA over the price increases of the kits.
3. Some, if not most or all, watch companies would change certain items in the kits and name the semi-changed movement their own caliber. Breitling and Tag Heuer to name two companies

Now to a common person, these three reasons are childish, but if you continued getting sued and/or badgered over your movements, forced to upgrade the tooling and type of materials used to make your kits, told not to increase the prices so you have to incur the losses these upgrades cost, kept watching your work being changed then relabeled... what would you do?

Good for you ETA. I support you.

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