bmattock
Veteran
I am not anti-labour, but sometimes labour is its own worst enemy. Companies like Leitz may want to automate some operations - only to face stiff opposition from workers who fear being made redundant (and rightfully so). This has been a problem since the industrial age began (witness the history of the word 'sabot'). But if the factories cannot modernize, cannot streamline operations anc make operations more efficient where possible, then they sometimes find that they cannot survive as a going concern - and then everyone loses.
I am old enough to remember visits to Chicago as a child with my father - we sometimes rode in elevators that had 'operators'. Did they do anything? No, they announced the floors and pushed the buttons. But the union was strong - and the cost of finished goods was a little higher as a result. The companies that still employed elevator operators had to sell their buildings and move to single-floor buildings or install escalators before they could 'retire' the workers who pushed the buttons.
I don't claim to have any answers - but I am glad Leitz has been able to survive and keep their standards high. I cannot afford their goods, but I hope to own one someday.
As to mechanical watches and what good they are - some would argue that keeping time is the least of the things a high-end mechanical watch does. It represents much in terms of history, connectedness with our roots, and even serves to remind one that tempus fugit, momento mori.
My 1903 Elgin pocket watch has outlived the man who made it, my grandfather, my father, and it may survive me. Some things man makes are worthy of keeping past the lifetime of their creators.
I am old enough to remember visits to Chicago as a child with my father - we sometimes rode in elevators that had 'operators'. Did they do anything? No, they announced the floors and pushed the buttons. But the union was strong - and the cost of finished goods was a little higher as a result. The companies that still employed elevator operators had to sell their buildings and move to single-floor buildings or install escalators before they could 'retire' the workers who pushed the buttons.
I don't claim to have any answers - but I am glad Leitz has been able to survive and keep their standards high. I cannot afford their goods, but I hope to own one someday.
As to mechanical watches and what good they are - some would argue that keeping time is the least of the things a high-end mechanical watch does. It represents much in terms of history, connectedness with our roots, and even serves to remind one that tempus fugit, momento mori.
My 1903 Elgin pocket watch has outlived the man who made it, my grandfather, my father, and it may survive me. Some things man makes are worthy of keeping past the lifetime of their creators.
