History of Switzerland
Switzerland's most important exports during the war were precision machine tools, watches, jewel bearings (used in bombsights), electricity, and dairy products. During World War Two, the Swiss franc was the only remaining major freely convertible currency in the world, and both the Allies and the Germans sold large amounts of gold to the Swiss National Bank. Between 1940 and 1945, the German Reichsbank sold 1.3 billion francs worth of gold to Swiss Banks in exchange for Swiss francs and other foreign currency.
Cupronickel
In Europe, Switzerland pioneered the nickel "billon" coinage in 1850, with the addition of silver. In 1968, Switzerland adopted the far cheaper 75:25 copper to nickel ratio then being used in Belgium, the United States, and Germany. From 1947 to 2012, all "silver" coinage in the UK was made from cupronickel, but from 2012 onwards the two smallest cupronickel denominations were replaced with lower-cost nickel-plated steel coins.