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

news from 1998 are below:

• Vienna Soulcity 2 special.  For the second time, swatch organized the Soulcity event in Vienna at New Year's Eve 98/99. A VIP section was organized for swatch collectors.  Each collector received nice Soulcity 2 VIP package consisting of a special t-shirt, the new swatch calendar, and a double loop access swatch with a special velcro strap featuring the giant wheel.  Thanks to Otto Schreiber for the information and pictures.
• Daimler-Chrysler swatch.  Apparently, the Daimler Benz company (now 100% owner of the Micro Compact Car (MCC) AG, the company that manufactures the Smart car; Swatch is not involved in the Smart anymore since Oct 31) is still a good friend of Swatch:  You probably have heard that Daimler Benz and Chrysler have merged:  The new company is called DaimlerChrysler.  To commemorate the merger of the two companies on Nov 17, every employee of the newly formed company received a special swatch as gift.  Here is a picture of the swatch and the guarantee slip (ref.no. GZ 157).  The watch is a gent swatch and a new design, not (yet) another refitted access or whatever. It looks similar to the famous Jellyfish swatch but the hands are black.  Also, it says "(c) 1998 Swatch AG" on the watch.  The watch comes in a blue A4 sized cardboard box (similar material as the lightblue Rotor cardboard box).  Besides the watch, the box also contains a poster and a journal about the merger. Here is a scan of the inside of the box.  The blurb by DaimlerChysler about the swatch is as follows: "To help commemorate Day One of DaimlerChrysler, we're pleased to present you with this specially designed, limited-edition Swatch watch. This watch is intended to symbolize two things: that this merger is "the right step at the right time," and that we intend for DaimlerChrysler to be a "transparent" company -both in how we do business internally and how we present ourselves to the outside world".  Exciting :-)   500,000 of these special swatches have been made (the newly formed company employs about 450,000 people). Update: Apparently, there are several versions of the DaimlerChrysler swatch.  The strap is always the same but the case of the watch is different.  I've heard that there are five(!) different versions. Here is a photo of version 2 (case is from the 1994 swatch Spinning Balls).  Here is a photo of version 3 (same as version 1 but with small [lady] movement). A 4th version of the special with the case of the 1996 Phonescan swatch was definitely also distributed.  And a 5th version of the special with the case of the 1996 Con-Fusion swatch was definitely also distributed.  Thanks to Amelito San Pedro for the picture of version 2 and to BillD and Christine Tanner and Yasuhiro Minato for the info.
• Swatch The Club Smart event in Hambach, France.  On 7th of December 98, Swatch the Club had organized a visit of the SMART factory in Hambach (France). For this first visit, 40 people from Switzerland and France met and were able to try the new car. On 8th of Dec, a group of 60 Italian collectors(!) were also there.  Here are some impressions of the day. Thanks to  Jean Bernard Mani for the information
• UK Skin promo pack.  During the first sale of the Xmas 1998 special in the Covent Garden (London, UK) swatch store, about 20 to 30 very nice promo packs for the Skin swatch were distributed.  The promo pack contains the Amarillo yellow skin and a see through plastic briefcase with 4 small bottles of skin care lotions and a T-shirt. Here is a picture of the promo pack. Thanks to  Peter Rollings for the information and picture.
• Japan Loft III special.  The department store Loft in Japan has released an (inofficial) Christmas special on Dec 1st:  A chrono Sweet Delight (SCM108S, 1995), chrono 1995 refitted with a navy-blue velcro strap.  Yawn. No special packaging.  Thanks to Vincent and Yasuhiro Minato from Japan for the information.
• Taiwan Jelly Skin special. From November 20 to 29, there will be a big swatch festivity celebrating the sale of one million swatches in Taiwan.  The activity will happen in the Taipei Shin-Kauo Department store in Taiwan.  There will be an exhibition featuring all swatches from 1983 onwards, a swatch auction etc.  Apparently, there will also be a special packaging (featuring the Jelly Skin watch, 3000 pcs, original price is NT 3800$ (about $120 US), packaging by famous glass artist Wong Share Jun) for the event.  The special is out now.  The designer Wong Share Jun has signed 100 specials at the event on 29th of November.  Here is a picture of an ad for the special.  Here is a picture of the packaging.  Here is a picture of the special itself (very nice!).  Here is a picture of the number on the packaging. Rob V. at www.squiggly.com has now a very good picture of the special.  Here is another closeup.  Also, Marco, the desiger of Alien Baby will come to Taiwan and sign his watch on Nov 21 and Nov 22.  Thanks to Sophia Chang and Torsten Rube for the information and to Sophia Chang and Cheng Yu for the picture.
• Swiss Alpine Ski Team / Swissair Scuba Access.  A new Scuba Access related to the Swiss Alpine Ski Team will be released in Switzerland only soon, ref. no. is SHB102C.  Here is a picture of the watch.  The design looks similar to the new skiing clothes of the swiss alpine ski team.  The Swiss airline Swissair, main sponsor of the team, is also featured on the watch with a loop around the strap.  It is not sure yet if there will be two versions of the watch (one with Swissair loop, one without).  Thanks to Christine Tanner for the information.
• International auction of signed Adamastor swatches. As you probably know, about 120 signed Adamastor swatches were featured in the swatch pavillion at the Expo 98 in Lisbon, Portugal until September 30th 98.  These 120 Adamastors (not the special, just the regular watches) were signed by international celebrities such as Tyra Banks, Monica Seles, Sharon Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Jean Alesi, Franz Beckenbauer, George Bush, Eric Cantona, Phil Collins, ... From October 5th to 10th, these 120 signed Adamastors were sold in an international charity auction through swatch stores and through the swatch website.  All proceeds go to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a project on the achipel Bazaruto in Mozambique to be precise (remember the Dugong? :-)  The signed swatches are packaged in a nice black leather box.  Here is a picture of the packaging and the watch signed by Didier Cuche and here are the pictures of the watch signed by Toni Sailer.  Here are the results of the auction!
• Portuguese "Adamastor" special, "Swatch" day at Expo 98. On August 21st, there was a special "Swatch" day at the EXPO 98 in Lisbon, Portugal. The Portuguese Adamastor special, a handnumbered limited edition of 600 pcs, was released on that day. The special is a plexiglass tube within a tube. Between the two tubes is sealed sand and water. The water is tinted a light blue/green. On the inside is printed seaweed (two shades of green) and three orange fish inspired by the fish on the Adamastor Swatch. Hanging inside the tubes is the Adamastor Swatch on a special plexiglass stand. Here is a picture of the Adamastor special. This is one of the best special packagings produced in a long time, it fits the "oceans" theme of the Expo 98 perfectly. It was designed by a design team in Portugal (who designed the Virgin Megastore special) and will only be sold at retail in Portugal. By the way, the special is handmade, the last packagings were made on the day before the event :-) 200 pcs were sold on August 21st. The special will not be available outside of Portugal. On the "swatch" day at the expo, we had lots of games for the club members. The rumoured autograph session with the Spanish artist Agatha Ruiz de la Prada (Swatch "Agatic Agatac") did not take place. If you want to read a detailed report about the swatch event for international club members (August 20 to 23), please click here(now with embarrassing pictures). Update: According to a letter from Swatch the Club Portugal, the remaining 400 pcs will be sold on October 10th in the official swatch club agents. October 10th is the day when the international auction of the signed Adamastors end. New Update (15-OCT):   In a new letter from Swatch The Club, they say that only 250 watches will be available (nobody knows what will they do with the rest of it!), and only by lucky draw!  The lucky draw will take place on October 26th.  Every member of Swatch The Club Portugal will need to send an application form to the club, and then the first 250 raffled will have the right to buy the Adamastor special. On October 10th, many people turned up at the stores, but no specials :-( were sold! Update (11-NOV):  The portuguese swatch club has now published the results of the lucky draw on its (quite nice) webpages.  The remaining 150 specials (600 - 200 - 250) will be distributed as follows:  50 specials to Swatch Switzerland, and the remaining 100 specials are sold through swatch stores in Portugal.  Thanks to Brian Pier for the picture and to Rui Mendes, Alfredo Matos. and Daniel Matos for the updates.
• Thailand Royal special.  A new swatch special called Love and Nature (GZ156) is now available in Thailand only.  It is made to honor the 72th birthday of the king of Thailand.  The grand daughter of the king has designed the watch.  It costs 2800 Baht (around $80 US).  It will probably be "limited" to 30000 pcs.  Here is a picture of the watch, quite nice!  Thanks to Thomas Buerki, Yasuhiro Minato, Yosapol Rathamarit, and Pongwalai from Thailand  for the information.
• Special "Time Capsule" version of "Glorious Runner" Australia only access. A special version of the "Glorious Runner" Australia only access has been released for Sydney 2000 Olympic Club (open only to Aussie residents!) members.  Here is a picture of the watch.  The access watch features a special Olympic Clup loop around the strap.  The watch is sold in a "Time Capsule" package.  The package is about 30cm*30cm*5cm. It has the watch (w/ extra loop), a special Sydney 2000 T-shirt, certificate, and a small memo book.  Here is a picture of the closed box and here is a picture of the contents.   It is not numbered but every package says "97 Limited edition, 1 of 2000".  The steps to get the package is: 1. Join the Club. It costs from $AUD150-$500 for different levels of membership. 2. Pay another AUD$180 for the watch and T-shirt set.  So you will have to spend at least $AUD330 (~$205 US, ouch!) just to get the package. Thanks to Chris Johnson and Mic Kuo for the information and to Yasuhiro Minato for the pictures.
• Australian "Sydney 2000" swatches.  A new Australian only special was released in ..., right, in Oz.  It is called Sydney 2000 and it is a refitted Aquachrono Nikiphoros with a new strap, ref.no. is SBZ102C.  Production seems to be quite limited as Swatch Oz shipped only 20 pieces to each swatch store in Australia.  Here are pictures of this watch. Update: Two more similar refitted Sydney 2000 swatches have surfaced in Australia: A refitted chrono Kalos (SCZ104C) and a midi pop Ippolytos  (PMZ103C) Thanks to Michael Kuo for the information and pictures.
• Forthcoming SKIN Specials.  In the first week of december, there will be a SKIN LIMELIGHT (called Nuit Etoilée, with 21 real diamonds) limited to 9999.  Here is a picture.  The number 0021/9999 was sold in Berlin on October 3rd.  Cost is 666 DM ($400 US).  In november, there will be a SKIN GOLDEN JELLY limited to 49999.  Thanks to Peter Rollings and Thomas Buerki for the information and picture and to Torsten Rube for the update.
• Berlin Swatch Day. On October 3rd, a new swatch store has opened its doors on the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.  A new swatch Berlin Access Straight Line has been launched on that day.  This watch features the Berlin subway map on the dial and the strap.  The first 1000 of these access swatches have been sold in a numbered special packaging, the special packaging sold out on October 3rd. Here is a picture of the special packaging.  The watch will be available internationally later without the special packaging.  There was also a Maxi version of the Access swatch on display in the store but it was not for sale. The maxi version is probably quite rare. To celebrate the opening of the store, celebrities from Berlin (several German actors and the daughter of German rock star Nina Hagen:  Cosma Shiva Hagen, she's an actress as well) were present and gave autographs.  For each autograph, swatch gave 10 DM for a charity (as swatch did with the money from the auctions mentioned below).  G.N.Hayek jr. (swatch boss, he's a very nice person!  always very friendly) was also there.  Unfortunately, the top model Tyra Banks was ill and could not be there (so I brought my japanese Tyra Banks display in vain ;-(  Instead, the new top model Alek Wek was there to auction the number 0021/9999 of the Skin Limelight Nuit Etoilée(a watch with 21 real diamonds).  The watch finally sold for 3000 DM (1 US$ = 1.65 DM).  The auction was organized quite badly because it was done in american style (as we say here in Germany):  Everyone who wanted to raise a bit by 20 DM had to pay the 20 DM immediately, so the watch finally went to the person who gave "the last" 20 DM.  And you can probably imagine that determining the end of this auction and the final bidder was quite difficult because everyone wanted to be the last person.  Typical way of swatch dealing with things like this :-/  There was also an auction of five rare swatches:  Xian LaX went for 750 DM, Hollywood Dream for 3000 DM, and I missed the other auctions (Feathers and Orb and another uninteresting watch).  This time the buyer had to pay the full amount.  In the evening, a swatch surprise party took place (I did not participate so I can't report anything).  Here is some more detailed info from swatch.
• Xmas 98 special. Christmas 98 special will be called "Sparkling Life", a gent loomi with a shiny gold folio strap. When the light is switched on, a champagne glass appers to help you celebrate Christmas and new year. Champagne cork is attached to the watch with a wire and a cap. The cork for the face of the Swatch looks almost as large as the snowglobe from Magic Spell! To read the time, you have to open the watch like you would open a champagne bottle. Once the cork is removed, then the glass has a shape of a champagne cap... sounds nice but somewhat strange.  The packaging also includes an ice cube tray that makes ice cubes shaped like Swatches (without the bands). Limitation is the same as last years (30000 pcs).  Here is a picture of the packaging, here is a picture of the watch with the cork and here is a picture of the watch itself.  I have the feeling that this watch will be a disappointment again, maybe as low as Light Tree :-( Thanks to Yasuhiro Minato and Brian Pier for the information and to Thomas Buerki for the pictures..
• Smart Autoquartz specials.  To celebrate the official availability of the Smart Car (finally!), swatch has released a second swatch special for the smart car.  They are selling 4 different Autoquatz watches, but it's only one watch with different bands. The watch looks like ATOM, STS 400 same hands but white and silver dial. The case is black.  The main colours of the bands are black, red, yellow und white.  The watches are sold in a see-through plastic pencil case.  The pencil case comes in the same colour as the band. It is clear and has a big SWATCH on it. The price tag is on the pencil case and the price is 110 Swiss Francs (about $80US).  The numbers are STZ 100D (red/black), STZ 100E (yellow/black), STZ 100C (black/grey), STZ 100F (white/grey). Daniel has some nice pictures on his pages.  As far as I know, the special is not limited.  It should show up in swatch stores and smart centers soon.  Thanks to Christine Tanner  for the information.
• Peter Bauer access swatch.  Peter Bauer is a German snowboarder.  He is in the swatch ProTeam.  Similar to Shaun Palmer, he will have his own scuba access swatch (SHN101) in november/december.  Here is an older picture of the watch, it is not sure whether this is the final design. Thanks to Thomas Buerki  for the information and picture.
• Halloween special. The halloween special will be sold in a pumpkin package, The watch will be a gent loomi with orange face, white hands, and dark blue/black strap. It will be available on September, 21. Here is a picture of the watch and here is a picture of the packaging. Great watch, there is a small but bright light inside the pumpkin.  Here are more details and pictures about the Halloween special. Thanks to Yasuhiro Minato for the information and to Thomas Buerki/Daniel for the pictures.
• SKIN specials.  Two new skin specials will be available in Spain, probably around Xmas, each one is limited to 1000 pcs (the watches are not done right now).  One is the jelly skin and one is the black skin, both with a new strap featuring a color logo related to the spanish painter Miro.  The logo is also on the packaging.  The specials are distributed by the spanish bank "La Caixa" in Barcelona.  These watches are not for sale.  They will be given away to customers of the bank. Thanks to Thomas Buerki for the information and to Sonia Borrell for the update.
• CNN swatches. When Swatch sold watches at their Olympic Pavillion in Atlanta back in 1996, they had a selling arrangement with the Cable News Network (CNN) store that was across the street from the pavillion. As part of the arrangement with Swatch, three CNN Swatches were produced. These Swatches were originally sold to CNN employees. During the past year, these Swatches were sold at the CNN merchandise store in Atlanta to the general public. Tom Rolnicki (on the photo, he wears a red cap) found them on a recent trip to Atlanta.  Suprisingly no other Swatch collector discovered (and reported on) these Swatches.  The store is now sold out of these Swatches and will order no more.  The clerk did not know how many of each Swatch was produced although the numbers were small.  Here are pictures of the two standard CNN Swatches.  The black CNN Swatch is a rebanded Black Globe (GB 164). Both sides of the band have "CNN The World's News Leader" printed on the black glossy band. With CNN's world focus, the globe on the face is very appropriate.  This is one of the best rebanded Swatches produced to date.  The Blue CNN Swatch is a rebanded Dark Blue (GN 155) with the logo for Headline News printed in white on both sides of the sparkily blue band.  The third CNN Swatch is a Chrono. The CNN Chrono has a blue band with "CNN" printed on both the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock sides of the band. The case of the CNN Chrono is clear blue and the face is brown. Here is a picture. The chrono model is Fury (SCN109) (99.99% sure). Thanks to Brian Pier for the story and picture and to Yasuhiro Minato and Thomas Buerki for the discovery of the chrono model :-)
• Italy Disco Byblos Access.  As you may have read already in the Swatch World Journal. the italian discotheque Byblos now also uses a swatch access (ref.no. is SKK106, no special letter after the "106"!) as an entrance card.  The watch is not too special, just a Magic Show access with a red extra loop around the strap.  It can be bought in swatch stores in northern Italy. Here is a promotional poster for the watch (the poster is not sold with the watch!).  Thanks to Yasuhiro Minato  for the pictures.
• Zurich Financial Services Access.  Recently, a new company Zurich Financial Services was formed.  To commemorate this event, the company handed out a Swatch to each employee.  The Swatch is a special access swatch (ref.no.SKK106Z, another refitted Magic Show). Here is a picture of the watch. Thanks to Mike Junk  for the information and picture.
• Italy soccer 100th anniversary access.  A new soccer related access swatch has surfaced in Italy.  It is released to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Italy soccer association (centennial of FIGC [FEDERAZIONE ITALIANA GIUOCO CALCIO]).  It is available in all swatch stores in Italy (Italy only!) but not limited.  Here is a picture of the watch.  It comes in a paper slip case.  The watch looks quite good.   Thanks to Thomas Buerki and Yasuhiro Minato for the information and pictures.
• Paris Access. The new Paris swatch Titi Parisien also exists as an access version.  The access version was sold at the opening of the new Paris swatch megastore on Sept, 4th. It is rumoured that only 1000 pcs of the access version exist.  Here is a picture of the access version. Thanks to Daniel for the picture.
• New Olympic Museum swatch. The Olympic Museum in Lausanne has a new "Olympic Museum" swatch for sale.  The first olympic museum swatch is now out of print.  The new "Olympic Museum" swatch is an access swatch (SKZ118) and looks similar to the very rare IOC 106th session access (official name is CIO 106, SKZ112).  The difference to the rare IOC 106th session access is: 1. the hands are white instead of blue.  2. the strap features the olympic museum logo instead of the 106th session logo.  Here is a picture of the new "Olympic Museum" swatch. According to the swatch store in Lausanne, the watch is limited to 1000 pcs, not 500 as previously rumoured. Thanks to Thomas Buerki  for the picture
• Are you interested in buying a Mimmo Paladino "Oigal Oro" swatch? Then check out this site. Apparently, this watch (034/100) belonged to Jacques Cousteau (he passed away last year). Starting bid is $10000 US (yes, that's ten thousand, ouch!) Happy bidding!
• "Glorious Runner" Maxi. The "Glorious Runner" Maxi is now available in Australia, refno. MSKZ118. Retail price is $350 AUS (about $210 US!!) because it is a limited edition maxi. Regular price for Maxis in Oz is $295 AUS ($180 US!!). The Glorious Runner swatch was previously available as Access swatch in Oz only. Thanks to Michael Kuo for the information.
• Swatch Timing and English Football. According to the UK newspaper "Mirror" (in an article faxed by Alex Hedley [Hi Alex!]), Swatch should soon sign an agreement to provide Swatch Timing for English Football. If the deal is approved, Swatch will have giant Swatch watches on every ground for the FA Premier League so that fans can see the official time displays. In the future, Swatch would develop a referees watch that is directly lined to screens in each ground. Two 10 foot long watches, no higher than perimeter advertising boards, would be placed at the end of the ad boards - clearly visible for the TV cameras and fans. It is a copy of the system utilized at the World Cup finals in France. Swatch will do this at no cost to the Premiership. Swatch will recoup their investment and make a profit by manufacturing a limited edition Swatch using the FA Premier League logo. The Premier League would incorporate the Swatch logo on the BBC highlights programme. The Premier League would collect 1 UKP royalty per watch sold. Thanks to Brian Pier and Alex Hedley for the information.
• New York "Alien Baby" special packaging. On August 20th, an autograph session with the designer of the beautiful "Alien Baby" swatch, Marco, took place in New York. A special packaging (numbered limited edition of 500) was released. Here is a picture of the (not soo impressive) special.
• Swatch party in San Diego. There was a Swatch party on August 16 at the Swatch Store in San Diego (Horton Plaza). On this occasion a special Irony Scuba 200 plexitube packaging has been released. The plexitube packaging contains Gina Lee Nolin's (Baywatch babe) picture inside. It is not numbered but said to be only available for this event. I've seen the packaging, I have to say that the photos look much better than the real thing! Thanks to Andrea Faggioli and Abbys for the information.
• Japanese Coca Cola Atlanta swatch Please have a look at this swatch page in Japan. It seems to be Olympia 96 (Atlanta, Coca Cola) related but the watch has the country code 6131 (Japan). Apparently, this watch was made by the Japanese division of Coca Cola. Thanks to Yuji Tada for the information.
• "Keith Haring" Access. The Museum of modern art (MOMA) in San Francisco now exhibits a Keith Haring retrospective. Of course, we all know about the relationship between Keith Haring and Swatch. It is no surprise that swatch has released a special swatch for this exhibition: A (yawn!) "Magic Show" access with "SFMOMA" printed on the loop. But the box of the watch is good. The box is a slipcover with a Haring design printed on it. Here is a photo of the watch and the box. For now, the Haring Swatch is available to anyone who donates $1000 US(!) to the museum. Apparently, the watch is limited to 1000 pcs. Thanks to Brian Pier for the information and picture.
• Godzilla swatch. The Godzilla watch was available on May 18. It is the Irony watch called Roasted Chestnuts. The special packaging consist of a box that looks and feels like Godzillas skin. A pin in the shape of Godzilla will also be included with the packaging. Distribution points may be very limited although the special may not be all that limited! 2nd Update: It seems that also the 2nd (not so rare) edition of this special has been pulled of the market! It is not known whether this is due to a trademark problem (again!) or due to the "weak" box office results of the movie. Update: It seems that the 2,300 US-only limited edition for the Godzilla movie has been pulled of the market and its special case destroyed. The copyright permission had not been secured from Tristar/Sony. The Swatch has been re-packaged with a new cover. It was said that only about 300 of the original pieces were sold to the public before they were stopped, making this a very rare Swatch item. Here are pictures. You can spot the difference between the rare first and the not so rare second edition easily: The first edition has only two lines of text on the backcover, the second edition has three lines. Daniel has a nice photo of the two versions here. Thanks to Daniel, Sean Brickell and Thomas Buerki for the information.
• US Irony Scuba 200 special. On June, 30th, the Irony Scuba 200 was launched in the USA (in the death valley and Las Vegas). The special released for this event was the same as the Italy Irony Scuba 200 special (numbers 1000 to 1250 of the limited edition of 1250 watches). Peter Fonda, Gina Lee Nolan and some other celebrities were there for the launch. A unique special was given (lucky draw) to a good friend well known from the internet :-)
• Italy Irony Scuba 200 special. On 21th of June, a swatch event ("Indiana Swatch and the Lost Collection") took place at Forte dei Marmi in Italy. A special packaging has been relased for this event. It contains the new Irony Scuba 200 in a plexiglass cube box With inside another box of carton in wich there is the watch. Here is a picture. Looks nice! There are 4 different models of the Irony Scuba 200, and the packaging is limited to 1250 pieces. This means that only complete 312 series of 4 are available. Getting the watch was very hard: you had to take part in a "treasure hunting" from 11 am. to 5 pm. There were to find 15 treasures and it was required to get at least 13 points on 15 to have the the right to purchase the watch. To find the treasures, you had to ride about 30 km on a bike around the seaside. Sounds quite hard to get. The new Fall / Winter 98/99 collection was also presented. Thanks to Emanuele'72 for the story and Andrea for the picture.
• Japanese "Le Salon" access. From April 29 to May 5, there will be the "French Festival" in Tokyo. I have no idea what this event actually is :-) but swatch will release an access special called "Le Salon" as entry ticket: Here is a picture, code no. is SKK106E [yet another Magic Show]. There will be a special packaging, numbered, and 50000(!) pcs total. Update: Only 30000 specials were sold, 3000 of the remaining 20000 pcs will be sold in Japan without the special paper sleeve for 5500 Yen (2000 Yen cheaper than originally). Thanks to Yasuhiro Minato and Takashi Odagiri for the picture and information.
• Swatch event in Ossiach (Austria). On 12-14 June, a swatch event took place in Ossiach (Austria). Swatch released an Aquachrono special (probably an older model with a special "swatch the club juni 1998" (velcro?) strap) for this event. Here are pictures of the watch: Front and Back. Swatch the club Austria will also sell the Mendini tower, the Candy Dulfer special (w/ CD) and the "Jungle" special designed by Gerald Poussin. Sounds like a really great event. Update: The "Jungle" special was not sold. Apparantly, the packaging was withdrawn because G. Poussin did not allow to sell the package. Does anyone have more details about this?  Here are excellent pictures and info about the Ossiach event. Thanks to Otto Schreiber for the information.
• Swatch & Micro$oft. Now this is an indication that the world is coming to an end. Swatch and Micro$oft have teamed up to produce three special watches. Check out the Microsoft logo store. They have now a good picture of the watches. The watches are Blackliner (GB161), Dark Blue (GN155), and My Way (GB733) with "Microsoft" printed on the strap. What a way to get rid of old swatches! Update: It seems as if these swatches are very rare! Only 100 pieces of each were printed. Due to a disagreement between Microsoft and Swatch (don't we all disagree with Micro$oft? :-), Microsoft will not order any additional swatches! Thanks to Roy Porello for the information.
• Japanese SKIN special. Tyra Banks, the supermodel from the SKIN ads, has visited Japan in May. Here are pictures of the visit. Swatch has released a special packaging for this event. The special comes in an acrylic case similar to the Time Cut chronometer and it is very limited (500 pcs only). Here is a picture. Thanks to Yuji Tada for the information.
• New Jungle Scuba Loomi special. A new limited swatch special called Jungle (a Scuba Loomi, SDV900, designed by the Swiss artist Poussin) will be released on May 1st. On this date, an exhibition will be opened in Switzerland in presence of the artist. Here is a picture. Thanks to Thomas Buerki for the information and to Christine Tanner for the picture.
• Swatch Gold/Pioneer member meeting in Biel. As you probably know, not all swatch members are equal: Those who were Gold members last year are now "Pioneer" members. They were invited by swatch to Biel on the weekend of 24/25 June 1998, together with the current 15 gold members. Around 80 people from all over the world (but mainly from Europe: Switzerland, Germany, Italy) were there. Nicolas Hayek Junior, Nick took part at this meeting. All pioneer members received a Mendini Tower with a special plate ("Gold / Pioneer Member Meeting 24/25 June 1998") on it. And they had the chance to buy some special swatches. If you want to know which special swatches, you have to ask someone who participated :-) They visited the SWATCH factories and they visited the Blum swatch collection near Bern. Sounds like a very swatchy weekend, I am envious of course. Thanks to Rike and Jean-Bernard Mani for the information.
• New Swatch products. Several new swatch products will surface in the next months: In May/June, we will see the new plastic automatics "Autoquarz". We will also see three new Skin swatches in May: One orange, one green and one with a leatherstrap. Production of the yellow and the red skin will be stopped (a good idea :-). In June/July, the Irony Scuba 200 will be released. A real scuba for diving down to 200 meters... They will reportedly retail for less than US$100. (Some speculation had them priced much higher.) In the fall, a new plastic chrono "Chronoalarm" will be sold: A chrono with alarm function. Update: Obviously, some of these dates are not correct. But: The Irony Scuba 200 will be launched on June 28th. The launch will take place in the Death Valley in the USA. In July, these new real scubas will be sold, 3 or 4 models are planned so far. Thanks to Thomas Buerki for the information.´
• Fall / Winter 98 collection. Pictures of the new fall / winter 1998 collection can be seen at washingtonpen. This includes pictures of the new AutoQuarz models and the first ever pop access swatch.
• No more MusiCalls. It seems as if the Candy Dulfer MusiCall was the last one to be made. The MusiCalls will be replaced by a "ChronoAlarm". Thanks to Thomas Buerki for the information.
• Some info about the (older) Taiwan Papiro special. This is an official special from Taiwan! SMH Taiwan even appears on the TV with this special. Initially, it was unofficial. However, it was made an official special because it is really a very beautiful packaging. This special is limited to 700 pieces only. It is very meaningful as it comes with a beautiful painting and an ancient stamp. The painting is a very old painting (regards as a treasure of Taiwan). The picture on the band and the dial of the Papiro watch is taken from this painting, which makes this special very very special. The retail price of this special is very high because the painting and the ancient stamp is very expensive. Thanks to Chua Kok Sian for the story.
• Special packaging for "Metrica" and "Piquant" Apparently, there will be worldwide unlimited special packagings both for the "Metrica" (GK 263) and the "Piquant" swatch. The "Metrica" packaging will contain a ruler and a pencil. Here is a picture of the packaging. It is supposed to be limited to 2680 meters in total (it says so on the packaging). Since each package measures 26.8 cm, the limitation is 10000 pcs (that's why I have a PhD in math :-) There seems to be available a special package for "Piquant" in Taiwan (not to be confused with the unofficial Singapore package). Here is a picture of the packaging (the site is often very hard to reach). Here is another picture. Update: The Taiwan Piquant special is limited to 1000 and will only be available in Taiwan. Thanks to Sophia Chang and Richard from Singapore for the information and to Yasuhiro Minato for the picture.
• Commonwealth Games swatch access. A new swatch has been launched in Malaysia in conjunction with the XVIth Commonwealth Games to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 11 to 21 of September this year. The new Access is called Menang (meaning victorious in Malay Language). Ref.no. is SKK 108. It has the same features like the Goodwill Games Access where personal information can be input into the chip and access to specific areas are programmed into it. Eg. all-access for special VIPs and limited access to certain areas for others. One can also load tickets into it like a normal access. It will most likely to be unlimited edition. It comes in a paper sleeve similar to the Juvecentus Access. Thanks to Al Auyong and Kenny Ang for the information.
• Info about Fall/Winter 98 collection. The 1998 Halloween special will be packaged in a pumpkin. The watch will have bats and vampires that you can only see in the dark. Thanks to Brian Pier for the information.
• Access swatch stores photos. Collectors who attended the release of the Goodwill Games Swatch in New York (in April) had their pictures taken and stored on the Access Swatch. Later, their Swatch was read and their pictures were displayed. Thanks to Brian Pier for the information.
• Aquachrono designed by Spike Lee. In May, Swatch will release an Aquachrono designed by Spike Lee, the famous movie director. It will be called Wake Up. Here is a picture of the watch.
• Soccer World Cup Chrono. In June, the soccer world cup will take place in France. Swatch will release a special soccer chrono in nine slightly different styles. Following the NOC swatches, there will be one version for USA, Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, respectively. Apparently, swatch is not an official sponsor, so the chrono will not be an official world cup commemorative watch. Here are pictures of the watch. Thanks to Yuji Tada for the information.
• Gold Irony swatches. In late May, swatch will release three Midi Ironys in gorgeous gold, ref no. YLG109, YLG110A/B,YLG111. Each watch will be limited to 30000 worldwide. Thanks to Yuji Tada for the information.
• Access 2 Swatch. Chris Johnson has compiled a nice page about the Access 2 swatch. This watch is currently being tested in Sydney, Australia. A special swatch access featuring the new Access 2 technology has been released. Code no. is SKZ110. Here is a picture of the watch, apparently, the strap is taken from the Devotion swatch.
• Goodwill Games Swatch. Swatch will release a new Scuba Access for the Goodwill Games in New York, the swatch will be called Time for Goodwill. It will be a black and yellow velcro strap with 3D graphics on it and probably not be limited. Daniel has a very good report about the launch of this swatch in NYC on April 22. Thanks to Abbys Mitchell and Yasuhiro Minato for the information.
• Special packaging for "Metrica" and "Piquant" Apparently, there will be worldwide unlimited special packagings both for the "Metrica" (GK 263) and the "Piquant" swatch. The "Metrica" packaging will contain a ruler and a pencil.
• Swatch Expo 98 pavilion. Swatch will be the only foreign company with its own pavilion (exhibition booth) at the Expo 98 in Lisbon, Portugal. If you want to see a picture of the pavilion now, just click here or here. Thanks to SteadiSM (oops, misplaced your real name :-) for the information and pictures.
• Boyzone Press Access. Apparently, there exists a third Boyzone Access: Boyzone Press Access (SKK103P). The only difference to the regular Boyzone Access is the 6o'clock strap: It has the same logo as the Journalist access: A man holding a big pencil. Estimated number is 75 to 100 pcs. The code SKK103P makes sense since the regular Boyzone Access has the code SKK103O and the Boyzone VIP Access has the code SKK103Q. Thanks to Al Auyong for the information.
• Verbier Xtreme Access. The Xtreme weekend (a snowboard event) took place in Verbier, Switzerland (my favourite skiing resort!) on the weekend of the 21/22 March 98. Swatch released a special access: A Magic Show with a special velcro strap carrying the imprint Xtreme. Here is a picture. Thanks to Thomas Buerki for the information & picture.
• Jackie Brown Tarantino swatch. Swatch has released a new watch called Jackie Brown for the new Quentin Tarantino movie. It seems to be a Magic Show access with a new strap (yawn!). Here is a picture. Ref.no. is SKK106D. There are rumours that 1100 watches were released just for the VIP for the premiere in Los Angeles on Dec,11th. I don't know so far whether the watch will be generally available. Also, 4 special packages with the watch and some extra stuff (eg. a poster of the movie signed by the movie stars) were auctioned for charity in the New York Timeship store (two) on Dec,8th and the two others in LA on Dec, 11th. Here are pictures from the auction and the watches and here is another picture of one of the four special packages... Thanks to Alby Grosso for the (hopefully correct :-) information.
• German "Espresso" special. A new swatch special packaging is available in Germany. It is called Espresso and contains the Espresso swatch (GB737) and two nice white Espresso cups with "swatch" imprint. The watch and the espresso cups come in a black box (13 x 13 x 9 cm) which carries two stickers, one on the top, and one on the bottom. The packaging is numbered 2500/xxxx which means that there are 2500 pcs around. Here is a picture of the inside of the packaging. Overall, a quite nice packaging.
• First Australian Sydney 2000 Olympia special. The first Australia-only special for the Sydney 2000 Olympics is out:  It is an access swatch called Glorious Runner (SKK107), limited to 10000 pcs. This time, the first picture was on the swatch website!
• Crans Montana specials. On March 14, a big event (Candy Dulfer concert, ski world cup) took place in Crans Montana (Switzerland). Two specials were sold at the event:  The so-called Mendini-tower, a five year(!?!) old special that was manufactured but never sold (10000 pcs). See below for a better description. The second special was a numbered (4500 pcs) packaging for the Candy Dulfer Musicall, it is quite similar to the Swiss 5th element special. Here are the pictures. Christine Tanner sent me a good description of the event but I'm too busy right now to translate it. Also, Patrick von Dach has a good report about the event on his site.
• Special packaging for Japanese Swatch Velcro Model. I got the following mail from Tada Yuji from Japan: On march 20, the japanese department store Kawaramati-VIVRE (Swatch shop) will start selling a refitted Bestione (1994, GJ 112S) gents. The watch will come with a velcro strap (yellow) and will be sold in a papersleeve for the plastic box and the velcro strap key-holder of the swatch logo. Original price is 5500 jap. Yen (~$43US). Update: This special packaging  (here is a picture) is actually a gift packaging available with all refitted swatches. It is said to be limited to 5000 pcs. So, it is nothing to get really excited about. Thanks to Yasuhiro Minato for the picture and information.
• A "Swatch" TGV. Swatch will sponsor a TGV (Train Grande Vitesse = superfast train) in France travelling from Paris to Switzerland.  It will be painted with "Swatch" on the outside. First ride will probably be on April 1st from Paris to Switzerland (no joke, hopefully :-). Later, the train may also be used for swatch events. Update: This project may be cancelled! Thanks to Thomas Buerki for the information
• Monumento Mendini special. At the Lucky 7 parties in US and other events, Swatch is selling the clock tower Monumento Mendini (10000 pcs, both swatch and packaging are numbered). It is an old special (5 years?) that was not sold until this year?!? A. Mendini is also the designer of the Lots of Dots club swatch. Original selling price is $80US. Here is a picture of the Mendini tower and here is another one.
• US destination swatches. The new Destination Swatches are available in the USA now. Here is a picture of the New York version. These Swatches are similar to the NOC Olympic Swatches in that a single style (a refitted Original Transparent, GK209) exists with slight variations on the bands. The watches come in a special paper slipcover. The Destination cities are the seven cities in the USA with official Swatch stores: Miami, Boston, New York, Las Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Las Vegas. Although quantities will be limited (only 2000 pcs each), the Destination Swatches are not numbered. Here is a picture of the complete set. If you are curious why these swatches were delayed so long, here is a very bad picture of the 1st and cancelled version, and here is a picture of the original and now cancelled packaging; these swatches do not exist! Thanks to Brian Pier for the story and picture.
• Unofficial Singapore Piquant special. Since swatch has failed to produce a special packaging for the nice Piquant mother-in-law swatch (please correct me if I'm wrong), two well-known swatch collectors from Singapore (Desmond Teo and Mark Tan) have teamed up with a company in Singapore and they made their own Singapore Piquant special. It is numbered and limited to 100 pcs. The special comes with the piquant swatch lodged within a fake bonsai plant. This whole oriental setup is encased within an acrylic packaging box. The name of the special and limitation number is engraved and embossed in emerald green on the base of the acrylic bevel casing. Here is a picture of this nice but unofficial special and here is a picture of the engraving. Please contact Desmond or Mark about price and availability.
• To Che reissued. It seems that Daniels story was true indeed: Fidel Castro asked for a few To Che Swatches and Swatch made a very small run of them. They were supposed to be sold only in Cuba. No one knows how some of them came to be sold in Paris. They do have a 1997 date stamp which is the only difference between the original To Che and the reissued To Che.
• Egypt LUXOR Aida special. Apparently, a special has been released in Egypt last year for the 175th anniversary of the Aida opera (there was an open air performance in Luxor in Oct'97). Anyway, it is the Patina (GG141C) swatch with a red Aida/Luxor imprint on the strap. 2000 pcs were made. Here is a picture. The watch comes with a paper (front / back). Thanks to Otto Schreiber for the information and pictures.