Swiss entrepreneur and corporate consultant Hayek took his country's watch industry out of the crisis of the 70s and 80s and brought it back to its international peak.
Born in Beirut (Lebanon), the son of an American dentist and a Lebanese mother, Hayek grew up in Switzerland, his mother's second homeland.
After graduating from high school, he studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry at various universities in Switzerland, but could not complete his higher education.
While still studying, 21-year-old Hayek started working in the mathematics department of an insurance company. After 1951, he gained experience in various industrial enterprises and in the meantime worked in his father-in-law's foundry and machinery construction company.
Nicolas George Hayek (19 February 1928 – 28 June 2010) was a Swiss businessman of Lebanese descent, and the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of The Swatch Group. Hayek worked as an actuary for Swiss Re, before briefly managing his ailing father-in-law's engineering company.
However, he wanted to become independent after a short time. In 1963, he left the consultancy company he founded with a partner in 1957. Two years later, he registered Hayek Engineering AG, based in Meisterschwanden near Zurich, in the trade registry.
His company specialized in preparing reorganization and rationalization plans. Hayek had a very good reputation that extended beyond the borders of the country in the early 70s. His company employed highly qualified and experienced experts from various branches. The companies he consulted were in a correspondingly wide range. Among them were state enterprises and departments, as well as companies and holdings in the iron, steel, vehicle, and watch industries.
The Swiss watch industry went into a severe crisis in the mid-70s. Between 1970 and 1980, half of the businesses in this area closed. Banks appointed Hayek as a general advisor in 1980. His main task was to restructure ASUAG, Switzerland's largest watch company, and the watch manufacturer SSH.
Hayek realized that this industry had relied too heavily on longstanding customer habits and underestimated its competitors in the world market, especially in Japan.
He suggested launching an affordable modern watch on the market that meets the highest quality demands. The result of four years of development work was the plastic Swatch watch, which is waterproof, shockproof, works precisely, and is suitable for mass production.
Its name was derived from a makeshift advertising slogan, "You have a second home, why not a second watch". Colored watches became a success a year later. In the same year, Hayek facilitated the merger of ASUAG and SSH partnerships as SMH (Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Mieroelektronic und Uhrenindustrie AG – Swiss Microelectronics and Watch Industry Inc.).
In 1985, together with a group of investors consisting of Swiss industrialists, he purchased the majority of the shares of the new company. A year later, he was appointed chairman of the board of directors of SMH.
Hayek based his company restructuring measures on the principle that it should be possible to produce the best quality at a low price, even in countries with relatively high workers' wages. He was unwilling to outsource production to countries where workers' wages were low and to buy watch parts and components from Asia. Instead, he favored the stabilization and further development of proven watch brands such as Longines, Omega, and Tissot, all affiliated with SMH.
He also supported the development of the most modern integrated operating systems and Chips in watch production, ensuring that the SMH Group had the necessary technical know-how. Thanks to Hayek's reorganization efforts, the Swiss watch industry was able to regain its former place at the top in the early 90s.
The most important success of Hayek, who hid his private life from the public, was Swatch, the 100 millionth of which was produced in 1992. At this time, the watch company had also gained a place for itself in the telecommunications market (with the Telephone Twinphone and the mobile radio device called Pager). In 1997, Hayek was planning to collaborate with Mercedes-Benz to produce an affordable small car (Swatch Mobile). His initial partnership with Volkswagen failed at the beginning of 1993. It was envisaged that the vehicle to be produced would be sold by MC Micro Compact Car AG (SMH partnership: 49%, Mercedes-Benz partnership: 51%).