Life in USA
1975 - 1981 United States of America
After traveling in our camper for 13 months on a round trip to South America , we arrived back in New York where we both got re-hired by our former employers. How lucky was that!!!
1975 was a busy year. In August, we had the pleasure of my Dad visiting us together with Ursula's father. We had not seen them for four years, so having them with us for ten days was so amazing. We took them on sightseeing trips in the Big Apple's five boroughs. They were most impressed with the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and Chinatown. Since we still had our camper, we could take them on excursions to Jones Beach and places around Bear Mountain State Park.
After our dads departed, Wally (Ursula’s brother) arrived from Brazil and stayed with us for three months. After Christmas, he returned to Vancouver. Unfortunately, his plans in Brazil didn’t turn out as he had hoped, but if nothing else, it was a valuable life experience. He developed a strong fondness for Brazil, worked as a car mechanic for a while, and even had the opportunity to learn the language.
1975 marked the year when Japanese electronic watches flooded the global market, sparking a revolution that caught everyone off guard. The Swiss watch industry was completely unprepared for this sudden shift. Chaos and uncertainty spread throughout the sector, leading to thousands of layoffs and the closure of several factories. Many manufacturers had to merge into larger groups just to survive. Fortunately, I was working in the US and wasn’t directly impacted by the crisis.
But my employer had no alternative and was forced to jump on the digital bandwagon as well. He asked me to set up an electronic (LED and LCD) watch production line. I was sent to Hughes Aircraft Co. in Newport Beach, CA, to learn all about the handling, installing, and testing of electronic watch modules. That was a fascinating new field and phase for me in the watch industry.
Buying a House. Ursula and I worked hard and continued a frugal lifestyle. By August 1976, we had enough savings for a 25% downpayment on a house. We found one in Westchester County, about a 90-minutes north of Manhattan. It was a perfect 3-bedroom starter home on two acres in a secluded location, close to a small lake. It felt like a dream!
Mr. Grinberg was pleased to hear about my plan to buy a house and asked the company’s lawyer to handle the closing for us. Yippee—Heinz is planning to stay and isn’t going to leave us again anytime soon!
1976 was also the year the company introduced a Profit-Sharing Plan. This was an excellent addition to the existing benefits, which included a solid salary, health insurance, and a year-end bonus. After ten years, I would be fully vested in the plan.
Our friends were all excited for us and helped us move in. There wasn't much to move since we had lived in a furnished apartment. We only had our personal belongings, the stereo system, the dishes, and cooking stuff. It all fit in our camper and the trunk of a Cutlass Supreme. Our house had hardwood floors throughout. I still remember the echo of our shoes in the empty living room with the vaulted ceiling as we walked around. That was so funny! Ursula wanted to make a Pizza for lunch that day and discovered the GE oven was broken. But that wasn't a problem for our dear friend Bernhard, who had just started working for me as a shop foreman. He gathered wood from the forest and got the fireplace going. Lunch was served on a makeshift table, i.e., the unhinged kitchen door placed over two moving boxes and everyone sitting on the hardwood floor. The wood-fired grilled Pizza and Lancers Rosé tasted great. It was a celebration we will never forget!
Mortgage payments and managing the expenses of homeownership was a learning experience. We needed furniture but couldn't afford it and didn't believe in buying on credit. No, we decided to take it slow and make our own furniture!
Sleeping on the hardwood floor on blankets wasn't comfortable, so, I built us a Swedish-style king-size bed first. Oh, what a feeling! Next, I made wooden cabinets for our clothes. Then a (solid hard-maple) dinner table for the living room and Ursula purchased six Breuer chairs to go with it. We didn't need a kitchen door. So, I used the wood to build a small bar. in the kitchen. Next, I constructed a 4-tier bookshelf that covered the entire south wall of the living room. It had a row of storage cabinets along the bottom. The next tier was for the stereo system (with hidden) speakers. Above that were two levels of bookshelves. A few months later, we had the money to install wall-to-wall carpeting and added a couch and a Sony TV. Our home felt cozier, little by little. The furniture was modest but functional, built in our basement with basic hand tools and supplies from the local lumberyard.
In 1977, we had the chance to buy a used Subaru 4WD. Our 0.8-mile road to the lake house, shared with two other neighbors, wound its way from the mailboxes through a dense forest. The Subaru proved to be incredibly useful, especially during the snowy winter months. At the time, we also still had our trusty VW camper and a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass, a generous gift from our friends Heinz & Sigi.
Ursula was 28 when I started giving her driving lessons in the Cutlass. She did great and was a fast learner. On the day she took the road test to get her license, it started to rain. She recalls being so nervous that she forgot to turn on the windshield wipers and close the windows. The examiner thought it was hilarious, and since she did everything else correctly, he let her pass!
In the summer of 1978, my Mom and Dad came to visit us. We took them on a beautiful road trip to Niagara Falls, Eastern Canada, and the North-Eastern part of the US. It gave my parents a little taste of the vast proportions of this country and what it was like to travel and sleep in a camper. They loved it! Dad was especially impressed by the vast forests in northern Maine.
During the 1979 oil crisis, we installed a multi-fuel hot-air furnace and began heating our home primarily with wood. Over time, this decision saved us a significant amount of money. Our two-acre property was surrounded by 34 acres of forest, and the owner, who had no interest in developing the land, kindly allowed me to collect all the deadwood—and there was plenty of it! Every fall, I made the most of this opportunity, cutting enough firewood to last us through the winter. Armed with chainsaws, splitting axes, ropes, chains, and a small tractor, I got to work. After spending most of my time sitting at my job, I welcomed the physical exercise—it was the perfect way to stay active and fit.
In 1980, my employer rebranded as North American Watch Corporation and became a publicly traded company. Around the same time, the company relocated to larger headquarters on 5th Avenue & 52nd Street in New York City. By then, I had already developed the After-Sales Service Division, establishing company-owned service centers in Beverly Hills, Miami, and Toronto. Additionally, I built a network of 18 independent authorized watchmakers in major cities across North America. Expanding and supporting this service network kept me traveling frequently. It was an exciting and rewarding chapter in my career.
That same year, the company invested in training all managers in team building, time management, and leadership skills.
Fortunately, the Swiss watch industry had largely recovered from the Japanese disruption and was now producing electronic watches with analog displays. Part of my role included training watchmakers within our service network to handle and service these innovative products. I organized and conducted group training seminars in major cities across the country. My schedule was demanding, but I loved every minute of it. A funny memory sticks out: At the end of a seminar in Dallas, a watchmaker raised his hand to ask a question. His thick Southern drawlmade it difficult for me to understand, and I jokingly commented on his accent. Without missing a beat, he shot back, “You’re the one with the accent!” And, of course, he was absolutely right!
Important Decisions. From time to time, Ursula and I would travel to Switzerland to visit our family and friends. It sure felt good to be back home, enjoy time with our loved ones, and experience the European ways of life. But after two weeks, we usually longed to return to America. We liked living in the US better and were almost sure we would stay there for good. We were both in our thirties, had secure jobs and a house, and felt financially secure. So, in the spring of 1981, we decided to apply for US citizenship and start a family.
My brother Herbert visited us that summer with his wife Eva and daughter Nicole. One day, he was helping me construct a back porch when Ursula mentioned she needed to go into town for something important. I was too busy and didn't think much of it. Herbert and I were standing on ladders balancing a heavy beam and hadn't noticed our ladies were back. Then Eva stuck her head out the kitchen window and yelled, "Ursula is pregnant." We both heard her loud and clear, but we had to secure the beam before going inside to hug and congratulate Ursula. Eva later chewed me out for not reacting faster to this exciting news!
On December 17th 1981, Ursula was three months pregnant as we proudly stood next to each other in the White Plains city hall, raising our right hands while being sworn in as US Citizens. That was a very emotional moment!
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