Life in USA
1975 - 1981 United States of America
We traveled for the last 13 months and were now back in New York.
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 good. 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 left, Wally (Ursula's brother) arrived from Brazil and stayed with us for three months. After Christmas, he returned to Vancouver. Unfortunately, his plan in Brazil didn't materialize into what he was hoping for, but, if for nothing else, it was a good life experience. He was very fond of Brazil, worked as a car mechanic for a while, and had the chance to learn the language.
1975 was also the year the Japanese flooded the world with electronic watches. It was a revolution that took everyone by surprise. The Swiss were unprepared. It created turmoil and uncertainty in the watch industry. Thousands of workers were laid off. Several factories had to close. Other manufacturers were forced to consolidate into groups to survive. I was fortunate to be working in the US and not being affected directly.
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 modules. It 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 happy to hear about my house buying and asked the company's lawyer to handle the closing for us. Yeee - Heinz is planning to stay and isn't going to leave us again anytime soon! 1976 was also the first year the company started contributing to a Profit-Sharing Plan. That was a great benefit in addition to the salary, health insurance, and year-end bonus. I would be fully vested in the Plan after ten years.
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. The 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!
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 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. 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 lumberyard.
In 1977 we had the opportunity to purchase a (used) Subaru 4WD. We shared the 0.8-mile road (with two other neighbors), which led from the mailboxes through the forest to our homes on the lake. The Subaru came in very handy, especially in the snow during the winter months. We still had our VW camper then and a 69-Oldsmobile Cutlass (a 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, 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 Main.
During the 1979 oil crisis, we installed a multi-fuel hot-air furnace and heated the house primarily with wood going forward. It saved us much money over time. Our two-acre property was surrounded by 34 acres of forest. The owner of that property wasn't interested in developing it and allowed me to collect all the deadwood, and there was plenty! I took advantage of that and cut enough firewood every fall to last through the winter. I had chainsaws, splitting axes, rope, chains, and a little tractor. Having a job where I was sitting most of the time, I welcomed this excellent exercise for my body.
By 1980 my employer changed its name to North American Watch Corporation and became a publicly-traded company. We also moved to larger headquarters on 5th Avenue & 52nd Street. It required five years to develop the After Sales Service, including company-owned centers in Beverly Hills, Miami, and Toronto. In addition, I established a network of 18 authorized watchmakers in other cities throughout North America. I traveled quite a bit to expand and support this service network.
That same year the company provided training for all managers in team building, time management, and leadership. I learned a lot from that. By then, the Swiss watch industry had mainly recovered from the Japanese assault and produced electronic watches with analog displays. It became part of my job to train the watchmakers within our service network to handle and service these new products. I started conducting group training seminars in major cities around the country. I had a challenging schedule, and I loved every minute of it. Funny story: At the end of a seminar in Dallas, a watchmaker raised his hand and asked a question. His heavy southern drawl was hard to understand, and I commented on his accent. He got back at me and said: you are the one with an accent. He was right, of course!
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 sticks her head out the kitchen window and yells, "Ursula is pregnant." We both heard her loud and clear, but I 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 17, 1981, Ursula was three months pregnant when we stood next to each other in White Plain's city hall, raising our right hand while being sworn in as US Citizens. It was a very proud and emotional moment!
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