Swatch Watches

Since the launch of the first Swatch watch collection in 1983, Swatch watches have made an impact on watch wearers everywhere and have been known as the best watch manufacturers in the world ever since.

 

During the 1970s competition from the Japanese watch industry left the Swiss watch industry in crisis. The Swiss had been the world’s leader in making traditional mechanical watch movements and cases but were now being taken over by the Japanese and the introduction of quartz watch movements. Quartz watches were cheap to produce and accurate.

 

In 1983 Swatch Group Ltd was formed by the merger of two Swiss watch companies, ASUAG and SSIH. In order to revive the Swiss watch industry a new product had to be presented, the answer to this was a Swatch watch. At a time when good quality watches were not affordable to everyone, Swatch watches started manufacturing a very bold style and design of slim plastic watches which were affordable to all and made at the highest standard. The watch mechanics were simpler and required only 51 components, compared to the usual 91. The development of the Swatch watch differed from other quartz watches as it did away with the traditional case and the majority of the assembly required by installing the movement directly onto the back of the watch and then sealing it. Due to using cheaper materials and fewer components, and having a large customer base, the Swatch watch was a cheap watch to make and Swatch were able to keep the prices down.

 

The name Swatch comes from combining the words “second” and “watch” and contrary to popular belief does not mean Swiss Watch. A high profile marketing campaign was launched to promote the Swatch watch and this helped Swatch sell 2.3 million watches in 1984. The Swatch brand soon became popular with people wearing two watches or using a Swatch to hold up their ponytails. Swatch took advantage of its popularity within the hip-hop community by creating watches with interchangeable faces and bands. This enabled Swatch owners to change their watch’s colour and look to suit every occasion by simply changing the cover and attaching it to a new vinyl band.

 

Swatch now offers many different watch types for both gents and ladies and has developed greatly since its launch. Swatch has five different watch collections: Originals, Irony, Skin, Beat and Bijoux the jewellery collection. Within each collection the products are associated with a particular style. Swatch Originals are the original family of plastic watches with an artistic flair. Swatch Irony watches are metal watches ranging from sporty to fashionable. Swatch Skin watches, including the Swatch Skin Chronograph and Swatch Skin Beat, are the thinnest plastic watches that can be found worldwide. Beat is the Swatch digital collection, high-tech, futuristic and featuring the revolutionary Internet Time. Swatch Snowpass watches act as a ski pass at many ski resorts all over the world as they have a built-in access control function.

 

Among the fashionable watches, the Swatch full blooded unisex watch SVCK4032G, part of the Swatch watch Core collection, is one of the best selling models. To help keep the watches unique, Swatch updates its collection twice a year, introducing new seasonal designs.  Alongside its most popular bestsellers, Swatch delivers limited edition originals such as the popular James Bond collection.

 

Swatch watches are water resistant to 30m, 100m or 200m, depending on the watch type. For the more sporty types Swatch offers water resistant chronograph watches, such as its dive watch. The company has served as the official timekeeper of several Olympic Games and ski and snowboard World Cup competitions. Swatch has also been the main sponsor of the Beach Volleyball Tour.

 

Since Swatch reached its peak in the 1980s sales have dropped but the Swatch Group is still the largest watch company in the world. At a time when watches are worn as much as a fashion statement as a timepiece, no matter how cheap they are, Swatch watches still have a touch of class, a certain uniqueness, and put the fun in timekeeping. Swatch watches remain popular and there are collectors everywhere.

Watches By Timepiece is an authorised dealer of swatch watches. www.watchesbytimepiece.com.