Stay tuned to
Swatch
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.
Older Swatch info (Last updated:
13-JUL-2010)
- Istanbul Swatch. Istanbul
is an European Capital of
Culture for 2010. A special Istanbul Swatch called Istanbul34
(SUJZ401) will be released
in march. The watch is packaged in a nice paper sleeve. Istanbul is the only
city in the world that
connects two continents. Therefore the left strap of the watch displays
the European continent whereas the right one depicts Asia. The
Bosphorus Bridge that connects two continents appears on the
dial. Thanks
to Squiggly for the
information and to Alain Choisy for the picture.
- Austria "Come Together 2010"
event /
special. Each year, Swatch The Club Austria hosts a Come Together event in Vienna for
its club
members. This year, the Come
Together event took place on 1-MAR. As in the last
years, a special Swatch Come Together Vienna 10
(SUMK101?) was released. It is
a transparent Jelly In Jelly access with a
special strap, limited to 85 pcs. A few pieces of this special
are still available directly via Swatch The Club Austria.
- Vancouver 2010 Paralympics
special. The Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics
will take place from 12 to 21-MAR.
Here is a
picture of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics volunteer special
(SUDK103F). The watch is an X-Large Ocean Ripple (SUDK103) from
2002 with a special strap.
- Vancouver 2010 Olympics
IOC special. Here is a
picture of a Vancouver 2010 Olympics
IOC(?) special that recently surfaced. It is the Skin Evensun (SFB136) from 2008 with
additional olympic rings on the dial. I assume that the watch is
quite rare!
- Vancouver 2010 Olympics
volunteer special. Here
is a picture of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics volunteer special
(SUDK103E) and here is a
closeup of the face. The watch is an X-Large Ocean Ripple (SUDK103) from
2002 with a special strap. Don't pay too much for this, all the
recent olympic volunteer specials are/were easy to find on ebay after a
few weeks...
- Roland Garros 2010
specials. Two
special Swatch watches will be released in France (only, probably) for
the Roland Garros French Open
Tennis tournament (Paris, 23-MAY to 6-JUN): A gent and a chrono. The chrono
carries the inscription "Roland Garros" at the 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock
position. No further information about name, ref.no., or
packaging so far. Thanks
to Alain Choisy for the
information and pictures.
- Cory Aquino special. A
limited Cory Aquino (former president
of the Philippines) Swatch special will be released on 24-JAN at the Ayala Museum in Manila.
Cory Aquino ("People Power President") would have celebrated her 77th
birthday on 25-JAN but she died in 2009. The Cory Aquino Swatch
Limited Edition has been designed
by Jaime Zobel comes in a unique package limited to 801 pcs:
A book
on Aquino titled “A Woman Dressed in Sunshine”
containing a touching
introduction by Teddyboy Locsin and photos of Aquino through historic
and personal moments and two Swatch
watches (some preview
pictures are here
on the swatch-clopedia forum). Jaime Zobel is also the designer
of the Philippines Centennial Swatch
(GK268) from 1998, also available in a nice bamboo
packaging. In fact, one of the two Swatch watches in the
packaging is the Philippines
Centennial Swatch with a new strap (ref.no. GK268C), the
other one is an
X-Large Citrus Spritz (SUDK101 from
2002) with a new strap (ref.no.
SUDK101F). The special is
numbered xxx/801 on a golden sticker
on one of the plastic cases inside of the book. Update: Meanwhile, the
watches have
been launched officially. It seems that the limited
edition is already sold out. A giant
Cory Aquino Swatch that stands 24 feet high against a large metal
casing is on display at the museum. Thanks
to Alain Choisy for the
information.
- Colour Code Swatch watches /
Swatch Guards are back! In
the spring, Swatch will
release 20 different Colour Code
Swatch
watches (pink, blue, light blue, green, ...). Arlette-Elsa Emch
(head of Swatch) was wearing three
Colour Code Swatches at the recent
Swatch The Club Xmas event in NYC. Two different special
packagings for these watches will be available as well, one of them
features seven(!) different Swatch Guards! The Swatch
Guards were extremely popular in the 80s, so it is great to see
these again. If you buy two different Color Code Swatches, you
will receive the special packaging with
seven different Swatch Guards. If you want to buy the special
packaging with the seven Swatch Guards but without the watches, it
costs $40 US. The second packaging
was especially designed for the combination of one Colour Code Swatch
with one Love Explosion Bijoux. If
you buy these two together, you can get the second packaging. So
far only one picture on a taiwanese
website. Update: Amazon.de
has all the pictures. There are 20(!) Colour Code Swatches in
total: 10 with a solid dial / shiny, 10 with a white dial /
matt. The
watches are (very 80s inspired as the artist swatches!):
- Portuguese Charity
special. Similar to last years, a special gent Swatch
called Caçula
(GZ213) was released in NOV-2009 in Portugal. The watch comes in
a
very nice colorful
box. It is only available in Portugal and parts of the
profits are given to
charity (contribution to the construction of the first Home Center
for refugee children of the Portuguese Council for Refugees). Update: Now, the watch is
available with an additional sleeve
around the packaging, just in time for Valentines Day. On the red
sleeve, you can read “Amor Sem Fronteiras” (“Love Without Frontiers”).
Thanks
to Marco Soares for the information and pictures and to Pedro Mota for
the information.
- Artist Specials 2010. A
new Swatch artist collection consisting of five watches will be
released later this year. Four watches are designed by UK Set
Designer / Illustrator Gary Card: Straight Drops (GB242), Set Square (GB243), Multi-Bi
(GR151), Radio
Button (GR153).
The
fifth watch is a 24 hour Swatch called Fluo
(GZ216), designed by UK
fashion designer Carri Munden. So far only
one picture on a taiwanese
website. Update: Amazon.de
has all the pictures. I think that the collection is superb,
inspired by the 80s swatches! Thanks
to Jörg van Dyk for
the information.
- Valentine Special 2010. The
Valentine special 2010 is a gent called Love Seconds (GB246). It
comes packaged in a nice
box. Update: It
has been designed by Matthew Langille, his fourth
Swatch design so far (after the CreArt artist Swatches Snuggle Bunch (GS136); Floating Away (GS137); Germaholic (GW149)).
Thanks
to Marco Soares for the information and
pictures.
- Berlin special. A
special Time
In Berlin swatch is now available at Swatch stores in
Berlin. The watch is limited to 1000 pcs, it is a Jelly In Jelly Living Swiss (SUJM704) from
2008 with a new strap. Here
is a flyer for the Berlin special and here
is information on the official Swatch webpage. It is rumoured
that a special
packaging of this watch (less than 75 pcs) may be available later but
no details are known so far.
- Swatch TTR 2010 special. As
in the last years, Swatch is sponsoring the TTR
World Snowboard Tour. A
special Swatch Chrono Plastic TTR World Snowboard Tour 2010 (SUKB400D;
Chrono Plastic Mister Twin with a special
strap) is
available, it comes in a nice paper sleeve.
Limitation is unknown. Thanks
to Alain Choisy for the pictures.
Andreas Wiethoff
