I actually think it goes way back into the times (not so long ago, actually) when all poor farming Suisse had was to check their attitude, effort, etc..This country was very poor, so people invested in what they could control and what didn't cost them a penny: punctuality, obedience, order, clensiness, building business trust, reliable products, etc..So they build reputation that still makes money, even though it in reality it is not always the case.

Maybe it's because reliability and punctuality don't require one to be empathic or polite.

Plus, as Music Chick said, it is free.


Of course, the fact that the watches were the only legal form of jewelry because of the Calvinists, might have something to do with it, too. After all if you are going to justify watches, not as jewelry but as tools, then you have to have a mindset that goes with and backs up that justification.

I can hear the conversation now...
"Well, we have these beautiful watches. What do we do with them? People are starting to say they are just adornment."
"But, how could they say that watches are only for personal adornment, they do keep time."
"Hmm. I've got it, we could always be on time."
"I like that. Be it decreed that we shall always be punctual."

Of course, the reliability thing would come later, after people who weren't punctual started blaming their watches.

(At least that is why I wear a watch.)
Brian.

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Many men, of course, became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural, and nothing to be ashamed of, because no one was really poor -- at least no one worth speaking of. - Douglas Adams

Enter the city from direction Bern, works upon works.looks like they are building a new train station. The works have been there for a long,long time. I cant imagine the chaos with traffic there every morning.....

From the same marketing/satire company that made the Italians
the lovers, the French the cooks, and the British the police.

There were some engineers too, but I forget who/where they were.
They're long gone, anyway...
.

I believe it's the elite of a society that sets the standards and to a certain point the stereotype. They act for the average Joe as a social/cultural reference.

Now if we observe the european elite during the last 100 years, we'll notice that Switzerland is playing a central role (hotel business, vacation resorts, healthcare, watches, etc...). I give one example in the hotel business.
The swiss César Ritz, founder of Ritz Hotel, is probably also involved in propagating the image of swiss excellence, quality and punctuality. In the 19th century all the european aristocratic elite were praising the hotelier and his sense of service.
If all combined, I think the european elite managed to propagate a certain image of Switzerland that is latent in our mental model of this country.

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The Germans I think

I can't understand the people banging on about the unreliability of the Swiss public transport system. It is still the gold standard worldwide. Every time I have gotten on a train in the UK in the last 5 years I've had miserable problems. (Left to sit for 2 hours in a field type problems). And don't get me started on the prices!!

As long as you are prepared to pay, Switzerland is terribly reliable. I am currently threatening legal action against a large UK home & garden firm (no names no pack drill), for the utterly useless, dangerous (bare exposed live wires etc.) half-arsed job they made on my kitchen. I run into this "I absolutely couldn't really give a t*ss." attitude time and time again dealing with UK suppliers / tradesmen / salesmen etc., and while the English shrug and say that it's normal, having lived here so long, I find it shocking.

Just my ha'pence worth

Jim

Now that a big quantity of "American" products are made in China, this statement doesn't apply

Did you know that the "chemise Lacoste" polos are made in Peru ?

Calvinism is a myth and most former an well known swiss made products are today made in china. Even swiss made watches are at least partially made in china.

Very few produce are made "at home" any more, most are made in China, India and other poor countries where cheap labour is favoured to reduce costs and increase profit, however, the care of execution and quality of materials used, make the difference, Swiss produce are known to be reliable, because they quite simply are reliable, they don't break down or wear out as much or as quickly as simillar American or other nations' produce.

So my statement applies

Best

Mrs. T

enter Zurich from Berne by train ?

- first to your right you see the various depots and cargo premises of SBB
- then you, after Rail-Station Zch-Altstetten come to
the Rail-Station Hardbrücke. Neither is new.
- finally, to the right of Zch HB, there is the provisional "Bahnhof
Sihlpost" which in a few years will be replaced by the Station
Bahnhofplatz, underground, and linked to a tunnel to Oerlikon

true, some rail-lines are sometimes built, and there is quite some
construction on both sides, but no new rail-station (except Bahnhofplatz)

i'd say stereotypes are built on contrasts, you need something to compare it with to create the stereotype.

if you compare Switzerland with France or Italy, Switzerland is indeed very reliable and punctual.

What do you compare England with? Ireland? the US? I'd speculate that the difference between those countries is not so big, hence there is no contrast and therefore no stereotype claiming the English system to value reliability and punctuality to a higher extent than any other country

but not as much humour, eh? Some stereotypes are true after all.
Anyway, I always take afternoon tea, especially after a Sunday dinner, and am generally polite, at least in person.

So you mean that all the expensive stuff here is $h!t? If only Id known...

I think you mean Yanks, do you (USsers)? If you can sell Bush and Palin as Presidents, man...that's real sales for ya

The Swiss watches.

The trains, DB, the trains. I have missed a couple 'coz I was 20 seconds late.

I think the Swiss are very reliable.

They almost always have the Gotthard Pass cleared punctually for the Whitsun weekend, whether there were only about five metres of snow on it or seven.

I think they have an ulterior motive though.
If they get it done a day or two early, this then allows all the road-working fellows to dig up a little stretch of every major road in Switzerland, with the resulting speed limits and traffic lights, ready to greet all the drivers who want to use these roads on their way to enjoy the re-opened Gotthard Pass.

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Longbyt

Not all the expensive s...

If you use the term Yanks/Yankees in Texas, then it is the folks north of the Potomac

Mien Gott Herr Woli, I'm well aware of that, and I doubt we are the only enlightened ones, although I think you may find the term somewhat more vague in its original definition, which is older than the state of Texas, so what do they know. Nonetheless, it is a commonly used expression in GB and beyond to mean Americans per se, as I'm sure you're well aware. Pedantic and hairsplitting spring to mind, as well as completely evading the point, on purpose I'm sure (is this some slightly more subtle form of trolling? Perhaps...).

Anyhow, it may interest you to know that on the streets of GB a Texan is now a common derogetory slang word for someone assinine or stupid...

But you possibly do not know the Texans ! So, Texans think of course that they know everything, and for sure better than everybody else on the planet Being in "the largest state in mainland USA" (if on visit there you here this at least five times per day) they do not like to be messed with. And if you ask them whether they in fact prefer Yankees or Mexicans they will tell "Mexicans, as them we can throw out, but the Yanks we cannot" And what people in GB think about them is irrelevent for them as they only roughly know about London, but those places upnorth could be in Norway or Iceland, it simply does not matter