Swatch Watches

Back to Youth with Swatch

One of the youngest Swiss watch brands has achieved tremendous results for only 27 years and became one of the most respected and recognizable Swiss products. Very popular, especially among young people, Swatch carries everything you need – beauty, harmony, precision.

Do you want to return to the days of your youth and experience the excitement and unique beautiful moments? If you want to do so, you do not need a time machine, but only a Swatch watch.

At any moment, even the most demanding people can find a perfect watch in one of five families under the Swatch brand – Swatch Originals (Plastic cased), Swatch Irony (Metal cased), Swatch Skin, Swatch Beat and Swatch Bijoux.

The Swatch Skin family has two sub families – Original Skin and Skin Chronograph. The Original skin is a much thinner version than the original Swatch watch, and it even entered the Guinness World Book of Records as the world’s thinnest plastic watch. The Swatch Chronograph is just the Swatch skin with a chronograph function and two additional buttons on the side of the watch.

The Swatch Beat is a very young Swatch family, launched in 1998 and incorporated beat watches across the three existing families, but adding twists. The Swatch Beat is the digital line and it integrates Internet Time.

The last line,  Swatch Bijoux, was born in the new millennium and shows the desire of the Swiss brand to rival the most luxurious watch manufacturers in the world. Its partnership with Swarovski, the Austrian brand of precisely-cut crystals, offers a perfect combination of luxury, youth spirit and unique harmony.

During the rising years, Swatch proved that its target group is younger population, by sponsoring various sports competitions, such as Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, World Snowboard Tour, Red Bull X-Fighters, and many others. Swatch has been the official timekeeper of all those competitions.

Swatch has also sponsored prominent athletes, including snowboarders Terje Hakonsen, Jeremy Jones, Nicolas Muller, an Austrian motorbike stunt rider, Robbie Maddison, a BMX racer, Robert de Wilde, and many beach volleyball teams.

Swiss Manufacturers in „Delirium“

The Swiss watchmakers were on their knees in the mid-seventies, during the ruthless fight with the Japanese watch manufacturers. However, Swatch was able to go out as a winner from the biggest crisis in history, successfully applying high standards set by the Japanese.

Japanese competition had been technologically outclassed in 1979, with a launch of the „Delirium“, the thinnest wristwach in the world. When a small group of enthusiasts, led by Ernst Thomke, designed Delirium under the auspices of the Swatch Group, they never dreamed that it was the beginning of a wonderful story which, during the years, has led Swatch to the famous Swiss brand names.

Swatch has succeeded in an attempt to re-popularize analog watches, and has achieved huge success, providing customers worldwide a fantastic quality and innovative ideas for much less money than others.

Great marketing and great ideas, such as reducing components from 91 to 51, soon led to the company’s growth.

The Second Watch, Incredibly Fun

There are two theories about the Swatch name. According to the first,  Swatch means „the second watch“, which is described as a new concept of watches as casual, fun, and relatively disposable accessories.

However, according to the second, Swatch is a contraction of Swiss (Made) Watch – “S’Watch”. Anyway, the name Swatch has become very popular worldwide, in a very short period.

On 1 March, 1983, the first collection of twelve models was presented in Zürich. In the same year, the sales target set to one million pieces, and 2.5 million next year.

The peak of popularity, Swatch experienced in the mid 1980’s, but now, 30 years later, the Swiss watchmaker is still very popular and highly respected in the world.