Jack Heuer has always referred to the appreciation of the Swiss Franc in the early 1970s as contributing to the problems that Heuer faced, in selling its new automatic chronographs. Here's a passage from his autobiography:

In the early 1970s the international monetary system switched from a system of fixed to floating exchange rates. Japan, however, had pegged its currency to the US dollar and thus continued to enjoy a fixed exchange rate vis-a-vis the greenback. At the same time, the Swiss franc appreciated against the US dollar and this made Swiss exports to the US much more expensive. In the Heuer-Leonidas world of stopwatches and chronographs our retail prices in the US were to more than double and our products would no longer be competitive.

Interesting how these economic events repeat themselves, with significant variations, of course.

Jeff