Swatch
Calendar 17 of 24 🎅 Plastic fantastic and an easily identifyable fasion icon of the 80s and more of a collectible in later years. Far from high horology, yet this brad would become a giant as it bought up more classical brands during the quartz crisis.
Fashion and cheap materials? Or invovation and clear design language?
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Tough call this one, they are all four of what you put,cheap,fashion,innovative and a clear design. They changed the way the world looked at watches, the first hype and collecting fever back when first released,and recently when the brand was probably slipping into the background, BANG the moonswatch now its right up there ,the brand on everyone's lips. A bit of legendary marketing,and thats what they did in the early days legendary marketing. Now they've got a whole new tranche of consumer's plus reminded us that we're there first time around that they're still on the scene ( not a bad thing from their perspective as I bet some of us have had a nostalgic foray into swatches) Never legendary products,but legendary marketing, so for me a classic ( if that makes sense)
Definitely a classic either from an industrial design point of view, collaborations (Coca-Cola #swatch, Keith Herring, NASA...), and the fact that a Swatch was my first #swiss watch. Having acquired a #moonswatch earlier this year the nostalgia for Swatch has started to creep back into my life (much more so than a yearning for a #speedmaster - that was already there), and I have been looking to see if I might buy myself something Swatch for Christmas 😜
Is it overstating to say that they basically saved the Swiss watch industry?
And yes, I know that the name is actually a portmanteau for second watch, not Swiss.
Probably more recognizable from a few paces than almost anything else.
I guess they're to the 80s what Timex was in the 60s - cheap, mass-produced, robust watches with every dial design you could possibly want; a marvel of cost-cutting and production design. Pretty much non-fixable, too.
During a recent visit with the In-laws, my MIL brought out a box filled with no-name and designer watches mostly from the 80’s that belong to my FIL (he wears a Tudor BB 58).
Amongst the baubles, bangles and beads was this blacked-out 1983 Swatch. I ordered a new battery, a new strap and some PolyWatch and gave this Swatch a little tune-up (along with a 1978 Seiko that was also in the box).
And now, with the finished results, they are ready to go back into that box for another 30+ years. 😀
Swatch had it's golden time, it made people rich, and it changed the watch industry in so many ways. All that being said, my interest in Swatch now other than it being historically significant is zero.
I had a skeleton type swatch with brightly coloured hands in the mid eighties. It wasn't made of quality materials and literally fell to pieces after not very long. I replaced it with a casio which is still in a drawer somewhere. Operated yo my mind although I know the stuff about saving the Swiss watch industry. Still overrated sorry!
During a recent visit with the In-laws, my MIL brought out a box filled with no-name and designer watches mostly from the 80’s that belong to my FIL (he wears a Tudor BB 58).
Amongst the baubles, bangles and beads was this blacked-out 1983 Swatch. I ordered a new battery, a new strap and some PolyWatch and gave this Swatch a little tune-up (along with a 1978 Seiko that was also in the box).
And now, with the finished results, they are ready to go back into that box for another 30+ years. 😀
Looking good after an overhaul 👌
That is unfair. What model are we talking about. It's a brand, not a watch. I won't vote until it's clear what model are we talking about and then vote "overrated" 😅
That is unfair. What model are we talking about. It's a brand, not a watch. I won't vote until it's clear what model are we talking about and then vote "overrated" 😅
Life is unfair and then we die ...
I say it’s a classic brand. It was a cultural phenomenon in the 1980’s that had a large hand in preserving Swiss watches. All done through bold designs, low price points, and reliable quartz movements.