This page does not contain any fancy
pictures but I hope
to provide some substantial information for collectors. If you want to
see some pictures of interesting swatches then go to my virtual
swatch museum. Although I am probably a bit biased, it is
highly
recommended,
especially
the section about special packagings which contains many pictures not
in
the Swatch-Clopedia guide!
Recent Swatch info (Last updated:
31-AUG-2010)
WANTED! Perfect Timing Swatch (#332/700). I am asking
for
your help.
The following bad incident has happened to a friend of mine without
internet
access: The Perfect Timing Swatch (#332/700) has been stolen on its way
from the USA to Germany. Apparently, the package was opened during
transport
and the watch (including the plexi glass tube) was taken out of the
parcel.
The outer white cardboard tube was still in the parcel and can be seen here.
If this watch shows up somewhere or is being offered for sale (remember
that it will come without the white paper tube), I would be VERY happy
if you could inform me
about
the seller. This watch has been STOLEN! Back to the regular news
service:
I am looking for 1983 and other swatches. I need
the following
1983 and other swatches. If you can help, please email.
I have lots of swatches for trade.
De La Salle University
Centennial Collection. The De La
Salle University in Manila, Philippines celebrates its 100th
anniversary in 2011. To commemorate this event, a collection called De
La Salle University Centennial Swatch Collectionconsisting of four Swatch watches
will be released by the university in OCT-2010. The watches are
sold only
through the university and local Swatch stores. It consists
of: 1. De La Salle Centennial Chrono
(Irony Chrono Earth Surface (YCS479, 2006)
with a new strap, numbered edition, 10,000 Php or ~$220 US), 2. 2401
(Gent Oseille (GK426, 2001) with a
new strap, 3,500 Php or ~$77 US), 3. St.
La Salle (Gent Loomi Commonplace (GG903, 2005) with
a new strap, 3,500 Php or ~$77 US), 4. Animo!
(X-Large Still Neutral (SUDF100, 2002)
with a new strap and a free black laptop bag, 5,000 Php or ~$110
US). A very nice collection! Thanks to Squiggly
for the hint.
The "Holy Grail" of
Swatches. One of the most complete Swatch collections
resides in Spain. This blog
entry has some more info about this collection and a few very
interesting pictures! Thanks to Squiggly
for the information.
Two new IOC
specials. Two nice rare IOC specials have been
discovered: 1. The Irony Chrono Retrograde Sand Structure (YRS401, 2007)
has
been released as an IOC (International Olympic Committee) version with extra olympic rings on the
dial (YRZ400) in a limited edition of 200 pcs. 2. The Lady
Strawberry Jam (LK243, 2004) has also
been released as an IOC version with extra olympic
rings on the
dial (LZ108), limitation is unknown. Thanks
to Alain
Choisy for the picture and to Squiggly
for the information.
Blum collection movies. A
few years ago, I was lucky to see the (in)famous Blum Swatch collection
in person in Thun, Switzerland. The collection comprised many
ultrarare prototypes, variants, and of course all regular Swatch
watches from the 80s and 90s. It was probably the best Swatch
collection on the planet at the high times of the Swatch craze in the
early 90s. Meanwhile, the collection has been split up and sold
(it is rumoured that Swatch has bought part of the collection).
Recently, five
videos (15 mins total) from 1994 have appeared on youtube showing
the collection on display in Belmon sur Lausanne. A must see for
any serious Swatch collector! A nice little booklet La
Phénomène Swatch also exists, if you see it on
ebay, you should buy it as it contains many nice pictures :-) Thanks to Hans
for the hint.
Taiwan Chinese Valentine's Day
special 2010. Swatch Taiwan will release a nice Chinese
Valentine's Day
special, in collaboration with the locally famous illustrator Jimmy:
The Lady swatch Lady
Maona (LK308G) will be packaged in a nice
book with many nice illustrations.
The special
will be limited to 2000 pcs, numbered xxxx/2000
on the back. More
pictures and information about the special by Sophia Chang on the Swatch
Clopedia forum.
Blue Balls 2010 special. From
23 to 31-JUL, the Blue Ball 10 music festival
takes place in Luzern, Switzerland. The festival is sponsored by
Swatch and features artists such as Melanie Fiona, James Morrison, Aura
Dione and many more. Christine Tanner reports: "On 24-JUL, Swatch Swiss Market invited Swiss
Members to a Swatch Blue Balls event. Around 30 members went to Luzern.
We met at the KKL and The Mystery Vintage band was
there for a warm up. It was told, that we will get a numbered and
unique artist watch. 3 MTV Playground artists finally painted a nice painting and the painting was the surface for
100 watch boxes. In a lucky draw every member was choosing one of the
100 watches. The packages are all
numbered 101 - 200 on the back and
inside we found one of the current
shiny collection watches numbered GB247E, GJ128E and so on. The watches are
also fitted with a nice Blue Balls strap with special loop in the colour of the
watch. Watches 001 - 100 are going to the Blue Balls Festival and the
artists. After the lucky draw, we had a guided backstage tour in the
KKL building and dinner on the KKL terrace - Apero, Drinks, excellent
warm food and dessert. We also got tickets for the concert with Newton
Faulkner, Morcheeba with Skye. Thanks to Stéphane Dousse and
Swiss market for this amazing day!" Thanks to Christine Tanner for the pictures
and to Jacky Beauverd for a picture.
FIVB staff 2010 special. As
in the last years, a FIVB staff 2010 (SKB106C)
special has
been released for the staff people of the different 2010 Swatch
FIVB BeachVolley World Tour events. The watch on the picture is from the Gstaad Grand Slam
(beginning of July). The sticker
reads: "Swatch AG thanks you for your cooperation at the Swatch FIVB
World Tour 2010". The watch is the
almost unreleased Fire Guard (SKB106, Access)
from 2008 (not released) / 2010 (very limited release), fitted
with a new strap.
Brasilia anniversary
special. At
the end of April, Swatch has launched
a special swatch called Traces Of An
Architect (GZ227) with a big party at the National Museum in
Brasilia. The watch has been issued to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of Brasilia, the capital of
Brazil, and as a tribute to the renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer who was the
chief architect of most public buildings in Brasilia. The watch
is limited to 1500 pcs and it will be sold worldwide. Update: The watch comes in a
nice paper sleeve.
Thanks to Alain Choisy for the
update and picture.
Free4Style special. From
2 to 4-JUL, the 18th edition of the Swatch Free4Style
2010 event took place in Estavayer-le-lac
(Switzerland).
Lots of spectacular activities including FMX (Freestyle Motocross),
Jetski, Wakeboard, ... A club event was also planned but
cancelled due to the death of Nicolas Hayek. A special Chrono
Plastic Free4Style
2010 (SUIO400C, Flash
Run with an extra loop around the strap) was released for the
event, it is limited to 200 pcs. Thanks to Alain Choisy for the
information and picture.
Nicolas G. Hayek 1928 -
2010. On 28-JUN, Nicolas G. Hayek, Chairman and
Delegate of the Board of Directors of The Swatch Group Ltd. unexpectedly
passed away during work at his beloved Swatch Group. Sad news
for Swatch collectors: Without him, there would be no Swatch
watch as we know it today, and probably, this website would not
exist... A tribute page to Nicolas Hayek can be found at www.always-surprising.com,
if you want to contribute, please look here
for details. A public
commemorative ceremony took place on 3-JUL in Berne,
Switzerland: More than 1000
guests participated at the ceremoney, including his son Nick Hayek,
his daughter Nayla Hayek (who has been appointed as Chairwoman of the
Board of Directors of the Swatchgroup in the meantime), Swiss astronaut
Claude Nicollier, Jacques Rogge (president of the International Olympic
Committee [IOC]), Doris Leuthard (President of the Swiss
Confederation), actor George Clooney (Omega brand ambassador), Deutsche
Bank CEO Josef Ackermann.
During the ceremony,
videos from different projects (Zermatt
1992, Smart car, Atlanta Olympics 1996, ...) were shown. Update: Meanwhile, all
remaining Hayek Branded Watch (SUPZ100)
specials have been withdrawn from sale (at least in Switzerland but
probably in other countries as well), so this watch will definitely
become collectible! Update2:
Here
is a very interesting newspaper report (in German) about the early days
(early 80s) of the Swatchgroup. Thanks to Christine Tanner for the
information and to Alain Choisy for the update.
Fachhandellogo variants. If
you collect 1983 Swatch watches, you probably know about the
Fachhandellogo watches: 13 models of the 1983 Swatch gent watches
were sold in Switzerland with the Fachhandellogo on the face, 2000
pieces each, and only in specialized Jeweller shops. All
Fachhandellogo Swatches are very rare nowadays (especially in mint
condition). If you look closely, there are variants of the
Fachhandellogo Swatches: All(?) 13 watches are available with big or small Fachhandellogo on the
face. I think that both variants are equally rare although I have
seen more small logos with certain models and more big logos with other
models. If you have additional information about this, please
send me an email. I
just found another variant of a GB100 Fachhandellogo Swatch: Now
the difference is in the position of the logo.
The variant has a (slightly) elevated logo. Have you seen this
variant before?
2010 Youth Olympics Specials.
For the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in
Singapore (14 to 26-AUG), two special gent Swatch watches are
available for sale: Power Position (GZ223, limited
to 1500 pcs, in a nice paper sleeve)
and Climb
the Top (GZ224, limited to 1200 pcs, no paper sleeve).
Each
watch costs S$82 (~$59 US). Thanks to grizzly
for the information and to Alain Choisy for the update.
Nicolas Hayek: Time
Bandit. The Wallstreet Journal has a great article
about Nicolas G. Hayek (Chairman of
the Board of Directors of the Swatch Group). The
article also includes a recent interview. Thanks to Dan Levinson and Brian Pier
for the hint.
Basel Jewelry Fair
specials. Each year in April, the BaselworldWatch and
Jewellery Show takes place in Basel, Switzerland. Since many
years, Swatch releases one or two special watches for the
Baselworld. Usually, it is an older watch with a special loop
around the strap. Alain Choisy has sent me the following pictures:
Can you add some information about
the missing years?
Swatch & Art Collection /
London launch event. On 6-MAY, Swatch has launched a new
artist collection called Swatch
& Art in London with a big event for journalists and
collectors. The
collection consists
of the following five watches by four artists:
Manish Arora:Charmingly
Beautiful (GE217). Should have been part of the
original Manish Arora collection but was cancelled at last minute for
various reasons.
About 75 Club members participated at the launch event. All
participants received the new club watch Playa
Look in a unique packaging especially made for the launch
event. Normally, the eye ball containing
the club watch is packaged in a black box. The event packaging (GZ215-1) containing the eye ball
is blue and and has a violet
inscription "Limited Edition Pack Of
200 Pieces". An extra Cassette Playa loop (not
available with
the regular edition of the club watch) is also contained in the
box. Here is a detailed report
about the event with many
pictures! Update: The German weekly magazine ZEIT
Magazin has a nice article
about the Art Peace Hotel with a
big picture of the You
Stop
You Die Swatch. A few pictures
by Swatch. Thanks to Alain Choisy
for the update.
Nicholas G.Hayek Center 3rd
Anniversary special. The Nicholas
G. Hayek center in Tokyo celebrated its third anniversary on
24-MAY. Similar to the last years, two special watches have been
released: N.G.
Hayek center 3rd Anniversary Red (GR154D) and N.G. Hayek center 3rd Anniversary White
(GW151D). Both watches are a Colour Code watch with a special
loop around the strap and they also come packaged in a special white paper sleeve.
Each special is limited to 250 pcs, numbered xxx/250 on the back of the
packaging. Thanks to
Alain Choisy
for the information and pictures.
"Mystery Vintage"
specials. On 5-JUN, the Sneakernessexhibition/fair
took place at the Güterbahnhof in Zürich. The Sneakerness exhibition is all about buying
/ selling / trading / designing sneakers. Swatch also had a
(totally 80s) booth at the
exhibition. At the booth, ten (slightly) different Mystery
Vintage specials were sold. Details of the sale had
been announced
on Facebook. Each special contains three older Pop in a pink paper box or three older Scubas
in a yellow paper box. Five
different boxes of Pop Swatches were available with the ref.no. PZS01, PZS02, ... , PZS05, and five
different sets of Scuba Swatches were available with the ref.no. SDZS01, SDZS02, ... , SDZS05.
Here are the watches contained in the different sets: Pop / Scuba. Of each ref.no.,
only 15 pcs were made, so we have 150 boxes in total (75 yellow / 75
pink). Complicated, eh? Here
is a small report with a few pictures from the Sneakerness / Mystery
Vintage event...
Swatch Girls Pro 2010
special. From 14 to 16-MAY, a Swatch The Club event took place during
the Swatch Girls Pro2010 Surf Championship in the
European capital of Surf, Hossegor, France. Only four club
members participated at the event (the smallest international event
ever? :-) Many different special swatches (all Colour Code
swatches in a special paper sleeve with a special
loop) were distributed to the
participants (club members, journalists, VIPs, ...). Here are two
examples: Girls Pro 2010 Pink (GP128?)
and Girls
Pro 2010 Purple (GV121D). Here is a picture of the full
event package. Does this picture
from the event show a unique maxi watch? Here
is a small report about the event. Thanks to Christian Brem for the information and pictures.
Geneva Airport special. About
10 years ago, the Geneva Airport has released a special Irony
swatch: YGS103C (an Irony Big Ocean Storm (YGS103) from
1995), with a special strap and a pin affixed to the strap.
Thanks to Alain Choisy
for the picture.
Lisbon Tintin store opening
special. On 3-DEC-2009, the first Tintin store has opened
its doors in Lisbon, Portugal. To commemorate the event, a special packaging of Les aventures de Tintin
(GM165), limited to 56 pieces, was released. It is an acrylic
display composed by the watch and one of the 56 original Tintin
magazines from the 1st year. Very few pieces are still available directly from the store, price
is 195 EUR.
Baselworld specials. Every
year in spring, the Baselworld watch and jewellery show is held in
Basel, Switzerland. Swatch usually releases a special swatch (an
old model with a special strap) for this occasion since many, many
years. Here are two of the recent specials: Baselword 2008
(SUYR100D, a Skin Chrono Red Illusion (SUYR100) from
2001 with a special strap) and Baselworld 2010 (SUDK101I, an
X-Large Citrus Spritz (SUDK101) from
2002 with a special strap). I think that at least 10 different
Baselworld specials exist. Do you know more? Thanks to Alain Choisy
for the pictures.
Colour Code "Vogue"
specials. At the end of FEB-2010, a launch
party for the Italian Fashion website Vogue.It
was held in Milano, Italy, during the Milano fashion week. Each
guest received a Colour Code Swatch
(three different colours were available) with a special Vogue.It loop around the strap.
300 pcs were distributed. Three colours were available: Vogue.It Purple
(GV121C), Vogue.It
Bright Green (GG204C), and Vogue.It Yellow (GJ128C). Thanks
to Alain Choisy
for the pictures.
Roland Garros 2010
specials. Two
special Swatch watches have been released in France for the Roland Garros French Open
Tennis tournament (Paris, 18-MAY to 6-JUN): 1. Game Shot
(GZ222, Gent),
2. Game Set
(YCZ402, Irony
Chrono). Both watches are packaged in a nice paper sleeve.
This is the fourth series of Roland Garros specials. Thanks to Alain Choisy
for the pictures.
"deepblue" special. Recently,
the communication agency deepblue networks AG has
released a special gent deepblue (GN716D). It is
a gent Time In Blue (GN716) from 2004
with a special strap. Limitation and distribution ways are
unknown.
Swatch TV. Swatch
has a nice website www.swatch.tv
where you can watch a lot of Swatch promo videos, interview videos, ...
from the area of sports, art, and fashion. Well worth a
visit! Thanks to always-surprising.com for
the hint.
Nespresso 2008 special. In
2008, a special Irony Chrono Nespresso(YCS4020C) was released for
the ITN Technical Convention in Geneva, Switzerland. It is an
Irony Chrono Raceway (YCS4020) from 2002
with a new special strap. Thanks to Alain Choisy for the information and picture.
FIVB 2010 special. The
(one of?) FIVB 2010 special swatch is a Chrono Plastic called Sand Diver
(SUKM400). Thanks to
Alain Choisy for the information and picture.
Swatch Art Peace Hotel. On
19-NOV-2007, the groundbreaking
ceremony for the Swatch Art Peace Hotel was held
in Shanghai, China. In early
2007, the Swatch Group had bought the ancient South
Building Peace Hotel.
The Swatch
Art Peace hotel is expected to open to the public in 2009, prior to
the Shanghai EXPO in 2010. In addition to a Swatch Art Boutique,
other points of sale for the
Swatch Group’s more prestigious brands including Breguet, Blancpain and
Omega will occupy the ground floor. Update 2009: Since
8-JUL-2009, an
exhibition called The Swatch Art Peace Hotel is
shown at the Cité du Temps in Geneva,
Switzerland. It introduces the restoration and unique operational
concept at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai. More
information in the official press
release. Update
APR-2010: A new website www.swatch-art-peace-hotel.com
is now online with a lot of details, photos, ... about the hotel which
is expected to open in AUG-2010. Check it out, it is well worth a
visit.
GFL 2007 special. Recently,
an access special GFL 2007 (SHB103LD) has
surfaced. It is a Scuba Access Boarder-X (SHB103) with a new
strap. It was distributed during Golden
Flight Level 2007 (International Winter-Championships of Air
Traffic Control personnel) in Oberstdorf, Germany. Limitation is
unknown.
"Time For Success"
special. Another access special called Time For Success
(SUMM101I) has surfaced in Germany. It is a Jelly In Jelly Access
Hit-It (SUMM101, FIVB 2007)
with a new strap. No further information available so far.
Closure of Vendôme and
Spiga store? Swatch-Guru Rob (Squiggly) writes on
the Swatch-Clopedia forum
that there is a rumour that the special Swatch Vendôme store in
Paris and the Via della Spiga store in Milano may be closed soon.
In the last two years, only very few new models have been
released. This closure would be a pity as there were many nice
Swatches released through both stores...
Singapore Mother's Day
special. The mother's day special 2010 is an Irony Medium
called Heartfelt (YLG165). It
comes packaged with a special packaging: A light blue shopping bag. A
very nice additional special gift is/was available in Singapore to the first 20 customers who bought
this watch: A 17"
plush(!) rose in a glass vase engraved with the Swatch logo.
Thanks to Auyong for the information and
pictures.
Artist Info about Find The Code
swatch. You probably know the gent Swatch Find The Code (GK720) from
1997. It was designed by US designer Chip
Kidd. What you have probably not known so far is the
following info
about the watch by the artist himself. I have always been a
little puzzled by this watch, it probably should have come in a special
packaging which was not realized...
Thanks to Alain Choisy for the information.
Swatch bourse in northern
Italy. The 13th Swatch bourse related to the World Museum (near
Milano,
Italy) will take place on 5-SEP (sunday). Attention: This
time, the bourse will take place in Melzo, a nice town near Monza,
in the Roof Garden restaurant (owned
by Swatch collector Miriam Mapelli). Roberto tells me that it is
a very nice place with a "beauty center" area, so accompanying persons
have a good alternative for spending the day :-) A special artist
packaging (a plate) will be released as well (very limited, only 37
pcs). This time, it
will be designed by Fiorenzo Barindelli himself.
Verbier Xtreme special. From
18 to 21-MAR, the traditional Verbier Xtreme contest was held
in (you guessed it) Verbier, Switzerland. Swatch The Club had
invited club members for a brunch with Swatch ProTeam members Xavier
de la Rue, Kaj Zackrisson, and
others. About 15 club members participated at the event.
They received a Freeride World Tour 2010 and
they were also able to buy the new
Chrono Plastic collection with a special black loop "Nissan Xtreme
Verbier 10 Swatch" around the strap. Update: Three Chrono Plastic
were available with the special black loop: Mister Pure
(SUIW402C), Hot
Chili (SUIR400C), Green Master (SUIG400C). Thanks to Christian Brem for the
information and
pictures and to Alain Choisy for the pictures in the update.
Freeride World Tour 2010
special For the Freeride World Tour 2010, a
special Chrono Plastic Freeride World Tour 2010
(SUKB400E, a Chrono Plastic Mister Twin (SUKB400) with a
nice special strap) has been released. Limitation is
unknown. The watch comes packaged in a nice special paper sleeve. Thanks to Christian Brem for
the picture.
Three unreleased prototype
Swatch watches. Recently, three so far unreleased Swatch
prototype watches have surfaced on the market in strictly limited
numbers (100 pcs? 800 pcs? many rumours are floating
around). These three Swatches were planned for the 2008
Fall/Winter collection but at the last minute, Swatch decided to
withdraw them from sale. The watches are: 1. Shape Season
(SUMN100, Jelly In Jelly Access), 2. Fire Guard (SKB106, Access), 3.
Bump Brown
(YGS124, Irony Big).
Older swatch news. Click here
to read
older swatch news with more pictures and info. Check it out if you
haven't!
Usually, the number of visitors to this page
is between 200 and
300 per day (a little less on weekends :-) But sometimes, there
are peaks in the traffic! My
page is also visited by Swatch employees.
Disclaimer: I am
not a member of SMH, nor am I related to them in anyway, nor am I an
official
Swatch Dealer! I'm just a happy pioneer member of SWATCH THE CLUB.
Swatch
and Swatch The Club are registered Trademarks of SWATCH AG SWITZERLAND.This
site is in no way, shape or form affiliated with, related to or in
association
with the Swatchgroup.
It is a collector site for collectors run by a collector.
Independent music that deserves to be heard:
The Amber Light, Alias Eye,
Arilyn, Poor Genetic Material,
Cinnamonia, Tea For Two, Lou
Maxwell Taylor, ...
