It’s pretty much the same story that happened to the French and British watch industry.
The Swiss managed to industrialise making watches and generally do it cheaper than the competition.
The Second World War is a pretty big factor in why they became dominant too. Both the allies and axis were in war production mode and it was better to just buy watches from a neutral country like Switzerland.
Heritage is massively overrated.
Most of the exciting and fun watches are coming from the younger and independent brands in my opinion.
Most of the legacy brands don’t have a continuous history and have been bought/sold multiple times and in many cases resurrected with questionable links to the past.