I can’t think of a time when hiring a self-taught “amateur provided anything but excellent service at a fantastic price, while credentialed “professionals” have proven to be expensive wastes of time numerous times over.
I think it’s Suzuki who said ~”In the mind of a beginner, there are many ways, but in the eyes of the expert only one.” What’s that quip about science advancing one funeral at a time? It’s not funerals of patients or test subjects, but of ossified minds that reject challenged to the orthodoxy in which they are invested.
Sorry, I’ll go with the individual egotist over the egotist that has a corrupt cartel backing him. The former stands a much chance of being honest and competent, or at least exposed if not.

Design by committee while never the cutting edge of anything is far better than letting every egoist out there press on to make their own unique mistakes and then pleading that they didn’t realize the consequences of their actions. As the writer of this initial post wishes to politicize this discussion, answer the the following. Who would you chose to be the face of a government that frankly is in uncharted territory and accruing mistakes with wins.? My vote is for listening to those that have the education and experience behind them ( sort of like when I hire a licensed electrician to do the work I deem above my pay grade as a homeowner)

Those electrical standards you speak of as coming from the manufacturers seeming as a plot to sell ever more expensive devices. Who would you expect the research and information to come from? perhaps a government that issues edicts based on their own testing and research and then issues standards to manufacturers to create new products? actually that’s kind of the way the auto industry works because over the years innovations in safety and emissions has not been driven by corporate innovation although the speed at which standards are adopted and applied belie the suspicion that the answers were always there in corporate lab but the drive to maximize shareholder value will always win. It’s in every corporate charter. If standards were not upgraded continually you might still be driving a car with substandard brakes, a none safety windshield, no signals – a collector car of the way things were, not the way they can be.

So the takeaway :

The evil Dr. Faucci ( sounds like a character in a 18th century opera) should not be taken seriously because others lacking medical degrees and rigorous scientific training know better. You do remember science – the stuff that came after the world got tired of being driven by superstition, ignorance and burning their old girlfriends as witches?

When I hire my next tradesman, I should not be concerned that he/she has passed and certified rigorous testing in their field?The electrician that knows more than those that write national standards and codes, the plumber who is less than rigorous in compliance when installing a gas heater because he got years of experience and never bothered to update . The civil engineer who doesn’t think the full recommended time for curing concrete is just another way to extend out the job and raise costs. I would take them off my list. I don’t mind paying a bit more for the training acquired.

Call me old fashioned, but there is a reason I and millions like me worked and studied hard to obtain advanced degrees in our fields, whether a doctor or ASE certified auto technician. In a complex world I will put my trust in those that have some supporting work in their chosen field to back up their statements and work which can be rejected as freely as accepted, as opposed to what seems to be growing ignorance of the mob in search of Darwin Awards.

Ultimately, the great complaint of the 21st century comes from those that are being left behind usually because they feel they cannot meet the challenges of a complex world and changing attitudes. It’s has happened in every era on a global basis. Remember that guy who bragged he would never use email? Most did not have a great long term outcome. Complain all you want but if you want others to listen, before you fall off the bar stool, have an alternative plan. All views are welcome and needed

That’s easy to say all use Chinese parts, but that’s only speculation unless specific parts in specific watches are named.

There are a number of watch companies, especially the fashion and jewelry houses, that very likely leverage China, and on the other end there is Rolex, which would be idiotic to leverage China given its own scale, resources, reputational risk, IP risk, and pricing power.

Definitely the watch companies that had supply chain issues when Covid shut down China, and well before there were any issues in Switzerland, are suspect.

Right?

Because all watch brands use Chinese parts, there’s no escaping it. We sold our souls long ago.

All the money that goes to China will eventually come back in form of oppression, random weird viruses, surveillance tech, and all the crap you see over there, funded largely by us.

Why make watches part of this? Unlike iPhones we can buy watches without funding a global nightmare.