In the watch industry there was a period often called the “Quartz crisis”. There are a plethora of articles and videos on this topic but very very briefly, the watch industry was mainly mechanical and all of a sudden a new technology came along that was functionally better and it disrupted a whole industry. It’s worth reading about if you want a parallel to many other industry disrupting events to see what happened to both the Swiss (establishment) and the Japanese (disruptor) industries.

Seiko were the epicenter of the quartz crisis, pioneered the technology and while in the 21st century quartz is seen as cheap, in the 1960s-70s this was the pinnacle of technological advancement in the watch industry.

This example, a 3823 movement, would have cost you two months salary (average Japanese salary).

This had a gorgeous mottled dial with Roman numeral markings that had eroded in a localised area in the top right. It was unsightly but the patina on the dial gave it a golden hue. The whole thing made me feel Lewis Carrol vibes (most of the 3823 are applied markers and white dials)