A fire at the ETA building in the north-eastern town of Grenchen, part of the Swatch Group that makes watch parts and movements, has completely destroyed one of the workshops and caused considerable damage.
A huge plume of smoke was visible from the building on Sunday morning, and the local population was warned to stay indoors with doors and windows closed for fear of chemical pollution. However, officials later gave the all-clear.
A statement on the group’s website said that the fire started at about 8:45 in the galvanic workshop, but that since there had been no activity there at the time, no-one had been harmed.
The workshop is the place were metal is electroplated and rust-proofed.
«Thanks to the swift and efficient intervention of the ETA-internal fireworkers and the fireworkers of the town of Grenchen, the fire could not expand to the neighbouring workshops. The fire was under control at 9:30 and put out shortly after,» the statement added.
It said the cause of the fire was not yet known, and that it was too early to put a figure on the damage.
Swatch chief Nick Hayek told public radio that in addition to the workshop that had been burnt out, the assembly hall had suffered smoke damage. He said that the company could use other suppliers, but this would need reorganisation.
The exact impact on the group’s production would be analysed on Monday, he said.
According to the Swatch Group website, ETA is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of watches and movements, and supplies watchmakers around the world.