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 2001 are below:

• Soulcity 2001.  For the traditional Soulcity event on new years eve 2001/02 in Vienna, Austria, a special access swatch (This-Closure scuba access with a new strap, ref. no. SHB108C) has been released.  I don't know the limitation. Here is a report by Nikolai Kuttler about the Soulcity event.  Participants at the event also received a nice fleece hat.
• New Vendôme swatches.  Five new swatches have been released at the Vendôme store in Paris, all feature "diamonds" by Svarowsky:  A gent (Carry A Star, GM158P), two squares (picture shows only one of them called Reach For The Star, SUBB101P), a skin (Jeans de Soirée, SFK135P), and one irony.  Thanks to Philippe Danjean and Thomas for the information and pictures.
• Watch-Boavista Oporto Special.  To celebrate the 5th anniversary of the swatch store watch-boavista in Oporto, Portugal, a special packaging (numbered, 96 pcs) of the art special swatch Rio Douro Cor de Prata (GZ165) showing Porto 2001 was released by the store.  The packaging contains the watch and a T-shirt with a pin.  Here is a picture and here is another one.
• Xmas special 2001.  The Xmas special 2001 is a skin watch:  It is called Plume de Fête.  Limitation is (only) 9999 pcs.  Read all about it here. It is available in two versions:  The normal, worldwide version contains a paper saying that the Vendôme store in Paris, France has "offered" this Xmas watch to the other stores (a kind of advertising).  The second version called Plume Serafine is sold at the Vendôme store in Paris.  This version (200 pcs, numbered) contains 2 extra breastpins.   Here is a picture of the box of the normal version.  Update:  A special packaging (closeup, 60 pcs, numbered) of the Xmas skin has been released in the UK at a Swatch Xmas party on 9-DEC.  Here is a picture of the opened box containing the regular Xmas special 2001 (closeup of paper lining).  Thanks to Peter Rollings, Cristiano, and Thomas for the information and pictures.
• Hollywood Swatch Event.  On 15-DEC, a swatch event took place at the new Swatch Store in Hollywood (on Highland and hollywood Blvd).  10 pairs of sneakers decorated and signed by Shaqille O'Neal will be auctioned for charity (helping children affected by the World Trade Center tragedy).  You can bid on the sneakers online at the swatch website.  Thanks to June Berliner for the information.
• Vivienne Westwood swatches / suitcase special.  A collection of five Vivienne Westwood swatches (a skin, an Irony Chrono, an Irony Medium, an Original and a Square) will be released soon.  Here is a picture of the watches.  Here is more information at the official swatch website.  A special strictly limited edition suitcase containing the five swatches was launched on 12-OCT at the Swatch Megastore in Paris, France.  The suitcase is numbered xxx/500, each watch is also numbered on the back.  Vivienne Westwood signed 30 suitcases at the launch event.  Here is a closeup picture of the opened suitcase.  Price for the suitcase is 555 EURO (about $500 US).  The watches will be available separately, unnumbered, at normal price in a (not too) limited edition (when it is sold out, it is sold out!).  Update:  A nice special press package (less than 20 pcs, not numbered) of the Anglomania gent has been distributed in Asia.   Thanks to Danny Yarwood, Filip Jochums, Michael Horn, and Peter Rollings for the information and pictures.
• Club Special 2001.  The second Swatch The Club special 2001 is a square as well.  It is called Blue Town (SUAG 102), and it is limited to 15000 pcs.  It will be available in a special packaging end of DEC 2001 / early JAN 2002. Not very spectacular...
• Wristory by Swatch.  On 3-DEC, Swatch hosted a reception and auction (called Wristory, here is the advertisement) at the prestigous auction house Sotheby's in New York City.  The proceeds benefitGods Love We Deliver, a social service agency that delivers daily meals to home-bound patients with AIDS.  Very rare and impossible to find swatches were auctioned:   27 lots (see linkfor pictures, auction results and info about all lots!).  Total amount raised for charity:  $400,000 US.  Swatch doubled this amount to $800,000 US!  In addition to New York, it was also possible to watch the auction (and to bid of course!) from Zurich, Berlin, and Milano.  Each participant received a wonderful auction catalogue, a special wooden chair(!), and a special access swatch Invitation To Wristory (SKK103WR) in a special packaging that also contained the bidding paddle.  A great event, a nice special.  Again:  You can find much more information about Wristory here. Thanks to Martin Maguss, Brian Pier and Roy Porello for the information.
• MG special.  The car company MG has released a limited edition (250 pcs) special packaging of the Secret Agent Yellow Irony gent swatch.  The watch has the MG logo printed on strap.  The watch is contained in an octagonal aluminium box with a big "MG" logo on it.  The box contains a leaflet.  The special packaging was sold in Germany only.  Thanks to Cristiano De Micheli for the information and pictures.
• FC Basel Access.  The swiss soccer club FC Basel has released an FCB access swatch.  The watch can be used to store the tickets for the games of the club on the watch.  The watch is limited to 5000 pieces so far.  You can order this swatch online. Thanks to Markus Jeanneret for the information and picture.
• Portuguese art special / event.  A new art special swatch Rio Douro Cor de Prata (GZ165) designed by portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira has been released in Portugal.  Álvaro Siza Vieira has designed the portuguese pavillion at the EXPO'98 in Lisbon. Here is a picture of the watch and the paper packaging (pic1 / pic2).  The watch is not limited, at the moment, 20000 pcs have been produced.  Here is a picture of the press kit given during the launch of the watch. Update: A different limited edition special packaging made of real silver (249 pcs) has been released in during a swatch event in Porto during 13-16-SEP (invitation page 1 / page 2).  Price of the special is around 300 EURO.  Here is a picture of the special, here is anouther one.  About 25 collectors (4 from outside of Portugal) took part at the 4 days event, about 150 additional participants from Portugal for the day of the launch event with an exhibition of rare swatchesand maxi swatches.  Together with the special, the participants received a special bag and a special cap.  Update 2:  A maxi version of the Rio Douro Cor de Prata is available.  Currently, 200 pcs have been made, it is not limited as previously reported.  Sorry for the confusion.  Update 3:  Ricardo Rocha has put together a nice webpage about the event.  Thanks to Ricardo Menezes, Nikolai Kuttler, and to Ricardo Rocha for the information and the pictures.
• German Halloween special.  On 26-OCT, the German Swatch Club had organized a halloween event at Burg Frankenstein.  Yes, this castle inspired Mary Shelley to the book that we all know and love.  To commemorate the event, a special packaging of the Mummia halloween gent (GM900) was issued.  The packaging is limited to 36 pcs and it is not numbered but personalized!  A great idea.  Here is a picture of the back of the packaging.  Participants also received a rain jacket (fortunately, the weather was great!), a halloween headdress (cute!), and a special pass.  We had a lot of fun at the event, thanks to Semra and the others from Swatch The Club for the good organization.  Here are some of my impressions from the event, and here are Holger Brinkmann's photos (better than mine!).  Thanks to Holger Brinkmann for the pictures.
• Interesting early advertisement swatches.  Our swatch collector friend Michael just added a very interesting suitcase from a former swatch sales rep in Germany to his collection.  We guess that it was in use in the mid 80s (85 or 86 or so).  Besides some not too rare regular swatches (GB101, Jelly Fish [85 version], Lady Oxford Navy, Lady Golden Tan) that you can see on this picture of the opened suitcase, the suitcase contained also some swatches with imprints of German / European companies (Honeywell, Linde, ...).  The imprints are either on the strap or on the case ("MAHO" printed on glass, not engraved!).  The watches are definitely authentic...  What a find!  Thanks to Michael Stieber for the information and pictures..
• Swatch supports charity.  Swatch supports the New York Police and Fire Widow's and Children's Benefit Fund. Swatch will donate all sales of purchases made on October 11 through their e-commerce site (www.swatch.com) as well as purchases made at any Swatch store in the US to the New York Police and Fire Widow's and Children's Benefit Fund. This fund was founded several years ago by former New York Met Rusty Staub to insure immediate disbursements to families of officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Swatch is proud to be working with them in an effort to make a difference and hopes you will join them on October 11.  Thanks to Brian Pier for the information.
• Belgium Halloween special.  Almost a month too early, a special packaging of the Halloween swatch Mummia (GM900) was released during a small event for the Swatch the club members from Belgium on Sat., 6-OCT.  The event took place at the amusement park Six Flags.  Less than 30 pcs of the special packaging were distributed.  There are 2 versions of the special packaging: one in Dutch and one in French (because in Belgium, they speak Dutch and French).  Here is a closeup picture of the special.  Thanks to Filip Jochums for the information and picture.
• Italian Swatching & Swapping Event / Special. On 23-SEP, a Swatching & Swapping Event took place in Cesano Maderno, Italy.  The event was organized by Fiorenzo Barindelli and his team.  Fiorenzo has started a museum just for swatch watches, and he is also the world record holder for collecting swatch watches in the Guinness book of records.  To commemorate this event, a special packaging Swatching & Swapping was released in a limited and numbered edition of 77 pcs.  The packaging contains a Blue Jacket (SKN104) access swatch.  A special t-shirt was also distributed.
• Information about access swatches.  In the last millenium :-), Chris Johnson from Australia maintained a very nice and informative site about Swatch Access Watches and their technology.  These pages somewhat got lost at geocities...  I just put them online again at http://swatchaccess.home.pages.de Check it out, they look nice! Thanks to Chris Johnson for the nice pages!
• Xmas special 2001, NOT!  Here is a first picture of the xmas special 2001 (GZ166).  The name is not yet decided and the final watch may have a strap with a different color. Update: This was has been rejected and replaced by the Skin Xmas special "Plume de Fete". Thanks to Alain Choisy for the information and picture.
• Tourbillon Swatch special.  Later in 2001, swatch is planning to release a so called Tourbillon watch called Diaphane One (closeup) in a limited edition of 2222 pcs for 3333 EURO (about $3000 US).  As you can see on this picture of the back of the watch, the watch has a real diamond in the case on the back.  223 pieces of this swatch will be sold in the Vendôme store in Paris first; it will be available in other stores later.  The Vendôme Tourbillon swatches will feature three diamonds (red, blue, white = french national flag colors) instead of one.  Price will be the same. The case of the Tourbillon swatch is made of plastic, the bezel is made of metal.  A Tourbillon watch is a mechanical (automatic) watch with very complicated mechanics.  You can read more about this special here (in German only).  Here is a funny automatic translation by babelfish.  Update:  Here is the official info by swatch.  Check it out!  Thanks to Thomas Buerki, Rodolphe Foucart, and Fridolin Noser for the information and pictures.
• Unreleased swatches.  The following two swatch watches originally were part of the F/W 2001/02 collection but they were not released for unknown reasons (production problems?):  Buttoned (GK361), Golden DNA (YSS110A/B). Thanks to Alain Choisy for the information and pictures.
• Augsburg store opening special.  A new swatch store has opened its doors in Augsburg, Germany on 5-SEP.  A special tin (xxx/100) has been released for that event.  The tin contains any swatch from the current collection and a neck-band with a Swatch cellphone bag.
• DFS Partner Edition special.  Exclusively at the duty free stores DFS in Australia (and perhaps other countries), a partner edition special is available similar to the red partner edition special that surfaced in JUN-2001.  This time, the box has a silver design, and the two watches (gent Medium Blue (GN154C) and ladies Medium Blue (LN122C)) have been refitted with new straps.  The ref.no. of the packaging is GZS07.  Thanks to Michael Kuo for the information and the pictures.
• Lausanne Olympic Museum Access Maxi.  A very limited (25 pcs only!) maxi version of the Lausanne Olympic Museum Access (MSKZ118) has been released.  Previously, a very limited maxi version of the CIO 106th session access (MSKZ112) was also available.  Thanks to Alain Choisy for the information .
• Japanese SMAP special.  The japanese pop group SMAP (Sports Music Assemble People) has issued a special swatch which is sold at the concerts of the current japanese tour.  It is a Swatch Scuba Patinette (SDB117) with a special strap with the SMAP logo on the strap and a special packaging.  Limitation is unknown, probably around 1000 pcs.  The SMAP logo is printed in mirror writing!  Thanks to Yasuhiro Minato  for the information and the pictures.
• Rotterdam "OBR" access special.  A rare different version of the Rotterdam access special has been issued for the "Ontwikkelings Bedrijf Rotterdam".  It is the normal Rotterdam Access swatch with an additional loop around the strap.  The limitation is 500 pcs and the watch is not available in any store.  Here is a picture of the strap of the watch.  Thanks to Peter Kranendonk  for the information and the pictures.
• Rotterdam "City of Sports" access special.  A rare version of the Rotterdam access special has been issued by the "Rotterdam topsport" organization.  The watch is called Rotterdam City of Sports, it is the normal Rotterdam Access swatch with an extra print on the strap.  The limitation is about 100 - 300 pcs and the watch is not available in any store.  Here is a picture of the watch, here is a close-up picture of the strap.  Thanks to Peter Kranendonk  for the information and the pictures.
• Ericsson Helios special.  About five years ago, a special swatch (24h gent Ellypting with a new strap) was given to staff working on a telecoms software project at  Ericsson, entitled Helios after the Greek god.  Here is a picture of the special.  Thanks to Paul Coombs for the information and picture.
• Austria Beachvolleyball access special.  A special access swatch SkyBall (SHM104) has been issued for the Beachvolleyball World Championships which were held in Klagenfurt, Austria, on 1-5-AUG-2001.  So this is a new model, not just a new strap!  According to the organizers of the event, 2000 access swatches have been made (1800 regular, 200 more with an additional imprint [no info about that so far, probably on the strap]).  A 3 day event was organized for collectors.  They receiveda watch, a cap, and a bag (and access to the special guest seats).  A dinner with a few Swatch Pro Team members was also held.  Thanks to Valter Podgornik for the information and pictures.
• Funchal special packaging.  A special packaging of the Oseille (GK426) gent swatch has been released on 28-JUL for the opening of the Swatch Kiosk Funchal on Madeira islands (belonging to Portugal). Here is a picture of the packaging, and here is a picture of the invitation to the opening.  It is limited and numbered to 321 pcs.  The number 25 was given to the President of the Regional Government of Madeira Islands (to celebrate the 25 years of autonomy).  Two young Portuguese actors were there to promote the Swatch and to sign a few of them. Both are very well known to the public and were wearing two Scubas each one and other Swatch gear. The Swatch bag given to each person at the event contained the Special Packaging, a T-Shirt and a Pen.  Here is a picture of the shop windows display.  Thanks to Jorge Malheiro, Luis Afonso and Ricardo Menezes for the information and picture.
• Dutch FC Utrecht access special.  On 21-JUL (annual supporters day), an access special (a Magic Snow with a special strap) for the FC Utrecht soccer club will be issued in the Netherlands.  The special will be limited to 671 pcs.  Here is a picture of the official presentation to the team of FC Utrecht. Thanks to Hans van Buuren and to Ben de Vries for the information and picture.
• Dutch Libertel Ericsson special.  When purchasing an Ericsson T20e mobile phone and a Liberty (dutch mobile phone company) subscription, you get a free swatch .beat in a special packaging.  See this dutch advertisement.  More details on Hans van Buuren's excellent page.
• Japanese City Life Expo 2001 access special.  A new access special called City Life Expo 2001 ("KANAZAWA Machi-Haku 2001", net.invaderaccess) has been released in Japan.  Here is a picture of the watch and the special packaging (box / opened box). More information can be found here.  The plastic box and the strap both carry a special sticker.  The strap is not specially printed!
• Dream of Atom japanese access special. A new access special called Dream of Atom (Clearance access with a special strap) has been released in Japan. Here is a picture of the watch and the special packaging (box / opened box). More information can be found here.  The design is inspired by the japanese cartoonist Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989), well known by his character Astro Boy.
• Skin Chrono launch special.  On 11-MAY, the new skin chrono was officially launched in the wind tunnel in Modane, France.  About 350 journalists and 100 swatch gold & pioneer members attended the event.  A nice special packaging of the skin chrono (limited and numbered to 450 pcs) in a plexi glass tube was given to all participants.  Update:  Here is a short report with great pictures from the launch event. Here is another report with more nice pictures! Update 2: Also, the Swatch event at the wind tunnel will be a half hour TV show on the E channel Entertainment network (USA) on 31-JUL!  Check your TV program! Thanks to Christine Tanner for the information and to Marc Lenzinger and Stefano Costa for the pictures.
• Locarno Film Festival special.  For the 54th film festival (2-12 AUG 2001) in Locarno, Switzerland, Swatch has created a special skin .beat.  It will be sold in a special packaging limited to 1500 pcs at the film festival.  The special packaging contains a mirror and some make-up cosmetics accessoires.  The watch will be available world wide without the special packaging in the future.  Thanks to Alain Choisy for the information and picture.
• Montreux Jazz Festival Special 2001.  The Swatch Special Montreux Jazz Festival 2001 is called Instrumental.  The watch has been designed by Matthias Winkler (famous for Zeit2).  Here is a picture of Matthias and Michele Sofisti (president of Swatch) presenting the Instrumental maxi swatch at a press conference to Claude Nobs (organisator of the Jazz Festival).  Here is a picture of the watch.  Looks great!  The watch will be sold in a special packaging with an inscription "Take your time".  The watch will be limited to 3000 pcs for the Montreux Festival.  It will be available in Switzerland only.  On the dial and the silver-grey strap, the watch features musical pictograms. Update:The watch will be available world wide without the special packaging in the next collection.  Also, a very nice maxi version of the Instrumental (200 pcs only) was available at the Montreux Jazz Festival.  Thanks to Christine Tanner and Alain Choisy for the information and pictures.
• Rotterdam access special.  A special edition packaging of the Rotterdam Access swatch will be sold in the future.  The packaging will contain the watch, a camera and a flyer of the city.  Thanks to Filip Jochums for the information.
• Dutch Port Of Rotterdam special packaging.  To celebrate the opening of the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands in the summer of 2001, a beautiful special packaging has been given to the employees of the Port of Rotterdam.  Each box is indiviually numbered inside. 2050 pieces have been made, 1850 were given to employees, the rest was distributed elsewhere.  The box contains the Ocean Of Love (GK909C) loomi gent swatch refitted with a special strap. Here is a picture of the top of the closed box and here is a picture of the bottom of the closed box.  Here is another picture of the opened box.  A very nice special!
• The Alfee maxi.  Alain Choisy informs me that a maxi version of the The Alfee (SKK106N) access special exists.  No idea about limitation (probably rare) and the location where it was sold (Japan?).
• Dutch signing event with Albin Christen.  Read all about it on Hans van Buuren's excellent swatch page (look for "2001 Crazy Train Utrecht").
• Dutch Maastricht store opening special.  A new swatch store was opened in Maastricht, Netherlands, on 1-JUL.  The well known special packaging of the World² was sold again there, this time, the color was blue (again!).  So:  Let's summarize the four only slightly different special packagings of the club swatch 2001:  Green (Barcelona intl. launch, xxx/271, numbered), yellow (Barcelona contest winners, xxx/30, numbered), blue (UK, xxx/100, numbered sticker, Maastricht, ???), red (Portugal, 500 pcs, unnumbered).  Thanks to Hans van Buuren for the information.
• Portuguese Crazy Train special.  A special packaging of the Crazy Train (GG194) swatch has been released by a Portuguese swatch store. Here is a picture of the packaging.  It is limited and numbered to 212 pcs.  Thanks to Jorge Malheiro and Ricardo Menezes for the information and picture.
• Vendôme artist specials.  To celebrate the first birthday of the Vendôme store in Paris, Swatch has asked 10 international artists to design a unique skin special.  The following artists and fashion designers have designed a skin watch:   Arnaldo Pomodoro, Vivienne Westwood, Yaguel Didier, Charlie Couture, Gianpaolo Soguso, Paco Rabanne, Ezio Gribaudo, Emmanuel de Brantes, Massimo Giacon, and J.C. de Castelbajac.  The watches are currently on display at the Swatch Boutique, 16 Place Vendôme, Paris, France.
• Munich skin .beat special / club event.  After the traditional gold and pioneer member event in Biel on 7-8 JUN, a swatch the club event ("bayrische Gaudi") took place in Munich, Germany, on the weekend of 9-10 JUN. To compensate for the neverending rain that we all had (but we went river rafting anyway!), a very very special swatch was be given to the participants of the event.  The special swatch is a unique skin .beat (ref.no. SIN102).  The watch and the strap are dark blue, the strap has a white line.  As far as I know, this strap is not available anywhere else.  OK, we have had special straps in the past but this watch is really unique:  On the inside of the glass, the words "MUNICH, SWATCH THE CLUB EVENT 2001" are engraved. Here is a closeup picture of the face.  Note that there is no year behind the "(c) Swatch AG"!  Overall, this is a specially produced swatch!  Only 200 pcs were manufactured but on 80(!) swatches, the glass was broken or otherwise not perfect.  Hence the limitation of the Munich skin .beat is only 120 pcs!  (I can't think of such a special swatch for another event in the past!  now if this had been a gent swatch :-). Update: Here is a report about the event.  I have an extra Munich skin .beat for trade but I need something very special / rare in exchange...  I am open to trade suggestions, please email.
• Portuguese club special 2001.  A special packaging of the club swatch 2001 World² has been released for the World²launch in Portugal last month.  The style of the packaging is well known, this time, the plastic is red.  The portuguese version is limited to 500 pcs, not numbered, just with a tag with the reference and the price. They also made 100 T-shirts that were given to the first people on the stores. The special is already sold out in Portugal.  So:  Let's summarize the four only slightly different special packagings of the club swatch 2001:  Green (Barcelona intl. launch, xxx/271, numbered), yellow (Barcelona contest winners, xxx/30, numbered), blue (UK, xxx/100, numbered sticker), red (Portugal, 500 pcs, unnumbered). Thanks to Ricardo Rocha for the information and the pictures.
• Vendôme birthday special.  To celebrate the first birthday of the Paris Vendôme swatch store, a special gent swatch in a nice box featuring a picture of Place Vendôme and a draw of Napoleon on the back has been released.  The watch is currently sold in the Vendôme store.  Thanks to Philippe Danjean for the information and the pictures.
• Unique Lifeball skin special.  A unique Lifeball skin special by the italian designer Roberto Cavalli was auctioned online at www.swatch.com during 12 to 20-JUN.  All proceeds (the watch sold for 3950 Swiss Francs) go to the Aids Life charity in Vienna, Austria.  Aids Life supports several austrian AIDS groups.  Here is the official press release:  page 1 / page 2 / page 3.  Thanks to Valter Podgornik for the information.
• Gold / Pioneer Meeting special.  During the traditional gold and pioneer member event in Biel on 7-8 JUN, a special packaging of the Crazy Train (ref.no. GG194V) swatch was given to participants.  Each papersleeve was handpainted and handnumbered (xxx/150) by Albin Christen.  Albin was present during the meeting for several hours for painting, signing etc.  He was very friendly and very nice to people.  Update:  Here is a report about the Gold & Pioneer meeting in Biel.
• First Athens 2004 Olympics special?  Probably not!  Originally, I wrote: "The first special swatch for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, is currently being sold in Greece only."  It is a Clearance access swatch (SKK103CA) with a special new strap and a special paper sleeve.  According to the store in Greece, it is limited to 1000 pcs.  Update: Greece swatch collector Timotheos Binis informs me:  "The watch was released last summer (2000) and has nothing to do with the 2004 Olympiad and this is the reason that it doesn't carry the Athens 2004 mark. Swatch Greece can't inform me about where the watch gives access to and if there is any limitation (!!!) (probably there is not). When it was first released I called Swatch Greece but the info given was not very clear."   Thanks to Thomas Bürki for the information and pictures.
• Partner Edition special.  Swatch has repackaged a few older gent and corresponding ladies swatches in a Partner Edition special. Here is a picture of a box (ref.no. GZS17) containing the 1997 gent Razor (GM141) and ladies Mascara (LM113) and the back of the box.  As far as I know, there are four different combinations of the box (the box is always red) available.  The box is probably quite limited.
• Unique "stages" specials by Matthias Winkler.  Swiss artist Matthias Winkler has created several unique "stages" displays featuring the Montreux Jazz Festival 2001 special Instrumental, a real CD player in the bottom and two real speakers on the left and on the right side of the stage.  Each display is unique and it will cost between 2000 and 3000 Swiss Francs.  Here are some pictures: stage 1 / stage 2 / stage 3. Thanks to Christine Tanner for the pictures.
• Rotterdam Access swatch.  Following many other "city" swatches, Rotterdam also now has its own access swatch (ref.no. SKK121).  The special is released because Rotterdam is the 2001 cultural capital of Europe. The limitation is 10,000 pieces (unnumbered) and can only be bought in a couple of Dutch swatch stores.  The watch features the skyline of Rotterdam as does the front of the cardboard box.  The original retail price is 105 dutch guilders or 47,65 Euros or  $40 US.  Here is a picture of the inside of the box.  Here is a picture from the official launch of the watch in Rotterdam. Thanks to Wouter Land and to Bert Alblas for the information and pictures.
• New web page for the serious swatch collector.  Check out this new webpage for the serious swatch collector!  Excellent information, especially the section about "collectors tips".
• Italian Mother's Day special.  In Italy, the mother's day swatch Love Layers has been sold with 2 special postcards and a special satin bag.  Here is a picture of the packaging.   Thanks to Emanuele Bertodo at www.wwt.it  for the information and picture.
• UK club swatch 2001 special.  According to this newsletter from the Swatch The Club UK, a special packaging of the 2001 club swatch will be released during a Swatch The Club event on 29-APR. Update: The packaging looks similar to the special packaging that was distributed during the Barcelona event.  Each UK box (made of light blue transparent plastic) carries a special sticker.  The UK special is limited to 100 pcs.  Thanks to Peter Rollings  for the information and picture.
• Swatch and AOL Time Warner.  The two companies are planning an "innovative collaboration".  Read all about it here.
• TV access special Die Ersten.  The German TV station ARD has released an access special Die Ersten ("the first", a Blue Jacket (SKN104) access with a special strap).  Here is a picture of the watch.  The watch was used as an entrance ticket for a TV gala celebrating German athletes of the year 2000.  The watch is limited to 1300 pieces.  Update:  Here is a picture of the packaging.  The cocktail mixer on the picture was not included with the packaging of the watch, it was given as a gift in a discotheque ("P1") the night before the TV gala.  Thanks to Stefan Kluge  for the picture.
• 200,000,000 Swatches.  More than 200 million swatches have been manufactured so far.  Here is a picture of the 200,000,000st swatch, apparently, it was made in 1996, and it is a NOC Olympic Team (GZ150).  Here is a closeup picture.  Thanks to Peter Rollings  for the picture.
• Swatch .beat meridian.  The Swatch .beat meridian is not in Greenwich, England but at the Swatch Headquarters in Biel, Switzerland. Here is a picture.
• Barcelona Club Swatch 2001 launch specials.  From 28 to 30-MAR, a Swatch The Club event to launch the club swatch 2001 took place in Barcelona, Spain.  About 60 collectors from all over Europe came for the three day event and about 150 more collectors came for the one day event on 29-MAR. Update: Here is a report about the club event, we had a good time!  On 29-MAR, the club swatch 2001 was officially launched during a day of games and competition among the collectors.  In the end, every participant received a numbered special packaging of the club swatch World² (including a funny quiz game with 144 cards and a special dice, a small swatch guide booklet and a voucher for an updated version of the Swatch guide book that was available last year to club members).  Here are pictures of the packaging: closed and opened).  Actually, there are two versions of the special packaging.  The normal packaging is made of light green transparent plastic and numbered to 271.  The winners of the competition received a special special packaging made of yellow transparent plastic and numbered to 30.  Here is a picture of the two different packagings, and here is a closeup photo of the numbers.
• Dubai Wave Tour .beat special.  Here is a picture of a .beat special that has been issued in Dubai for the wavetour event in OCT-2001.  No idea about the limitation.  Thanks to Alain Choisy for the information and picture.
• Macy's Herald Square Flower Show special.  To commemorate the Herald Square Flower Show at Macy's in the USA, Swatch has issued a special packaging of the Sky Fly (GK347) swatch.  The watch comes in a purple paper container with green tissue and special pin.  Here is a picture of the special.  The special is limited to 1000 pcs.  If you want to buy this special, you can call Macy's in New York to purchase the Sky Fly special for $40US plus tax/shipping. The phone number is 212.695.4400 (in the USA of course); ask for extension 2257.    Thanks to Melissa Starr and to Brian Pier for the information and pictures.
• Dutch Bubble Blup special.  In mid April, the swatch store in Utrecht will release a special packaging of the Bubble Blub scuba Loomi.  The special packaging (400 numbered pcs) was designed by Marcel Bierenbroodspot (remember the dutch Twitch Twins special?), it will contain a bottle of Dubble Bubble Blup bathing shampoo. Here is a picture of the special and here is a picture of the label of the packaging.   Thanks to Hans van Buuren for the information and picture.
• Laax 2001 Boarder-X special.  On the weekend of 7/8-APR-2001, a swatch the club event took place at the Boarder-X event in Laax, Switzerland.  A special version of the access swatch Vertical Flavour (SHM102C) was released in a limited edition of only 350 pcs.  The watch has been refitted with a special strap.  At the event, participating club members also received a special cap and the programme of the event.  Thanks to Alain Choisy, Peter Rollings, Robert Bienia for the information and pictures.
• Italian Spring Celebration set.  A special spring celebration set is available in Italy.  It consists of the Sky Fly (GK347) gent swatch, a nice Sky Fly T-shirt, a large Sky Fly card (front / back) and a large Swatch envelope (about 30x30 cm).  No idea about the limitation.  Thanks to Emanuele Bertodo  for the information and pictures.
• Taiwanese Golden Virtual Wave special.  To celebrate the chinese new year on 24-JAN-2001, swatch has released a special packaging (300 pcs) of the Golden Virtual.Wave .beat swatch.  Here is a picture of the packaging, here is a picture of the watch in the packaging, and here is a picture of the promotional ad.
• Vendôme swatches in NYC / Beverly Hills.  Swatch will be hosting a Vendôme event in New York in early March. Gold/Pioneer members, press, and celebrities will be invited to a special reception on 7-MAR at the famous Rainbow Room.  After the event, the Vendôme collection will be on exhibit for approximately 4 days.  Here is a flyer with all details of the event and the location of the sale.  Sales of the collection will be at that location only, not at the Swatch stores. After the exhibit, the collection will move to Los Angeles and Miami for similar exhibition and sales, but New York will be the only city with an opening dinner and party.  There will probably be a Swatch The Club event on 8-MAR, but details are not available at this time.. Update: The USA Vendôme tour continues. The Vendôme collection will be on sale at David Orgell's in Beverly Hills, California. The store is located on famed Rodeo Drive. The Swatches will be shown/sold from 15-19 MAR. Thanks to Roy Porello, Brian Pier and to Russ Bauer for the information and to Philippe Danjean for the picture.
• Unique Maxi swatches by Matthias Winkler.  Three new swatch stores have been opened in Essen (Germany), Munich, and Den Haag (Netherlands) in 2000.  On the day of each the opening, swiss artist Matthias Winkler (he designed Zeit2), painted six unique Maxi swatches (18 in total).  The Maxi swatches were completely blank (and transparent) before (called Maxi All Transparent, ref.no MGK 000).   The Maxi swatches were sold or auctioned during the opening day. Here is a picture of one German maxi and here is another.  Here is a photo of another unique Winkler Maxi, this was painted in the Netherlands. Here and here are pictures of a third maxi (Netherlands as well).  Update:  Here is another unique maxi:  Pictures one / two / three / four / five. Thanks to Tobias Willmroth, Jürgen Walther and Hans van Buuren  for the pictures.
• ZEIT IST GELD special / Göppingen Swatch exibition.  An exhibition called "Zeit ist Geld" (Time Is Money) of about 200 rare swatches (eg. Oigol Oro by Mimmo Paladino, both Velvet Underground swatches, 3x Puff-Special, an Original Jelly Fish, Rorrim 5, Rotor, Fondation Maeght Set etc.) will take place from 3 to 30-MAR in a bank in Göppingen, Germany.  A special packaging (a nice tin can containing a Fiz N' Zip, designed by artist Kenny Scharf, picture one / two / three of the tin) has been released for the exhibition in a numbered limited edition of 100 pieces.  Most of the tin cans were sold at the opening of the exhibition on 2-MAR to customers of the banks and VIPs.  Here are more pictures from the exhibition.  Thanks to Robert Bienia for the information.
• Inhorgenta 2001 special.  A special swatch has been released for the Inhorgenta 2001 watch and jewelry fair (23-26 FEB) in Munich.  Here is a picture.  It is the Colors of a City (SKK118, Hannover) access with a new strap.  4500 pieces have been made.  Thanks to Stefan Kluge for the information.
• Vendôme valentine special.  A special Vendôme valentine swatch (a red square swatch similar to the red typical square but with a white heart instead of a white cross)  has been released at the Vendôme store in Paris.  It is limited to 300 pcs.  The watch is packaged in a nice poem book.  The first page has the title "write me lovers words".  Here is a picture of the opened book.  Thanks to Lionel Vasselle  for the information and pictures.
• SEGA Sonic .beat special.  A special Sonic The Hedgehog .beat has been released by SEGA.  It is packaged in a small tube. Here is a picture of the content of the tube (ie. the watch :-).  Thanks to Tom Totsis for the pictures.
• Pierre & Gilles SF show special packaging.  On 9-FEB, a party and reception in conjunction with opening of the Pierre & Gilles show took place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in San Francisco.  The show is partially sponsored by swatch.  To commemorate the exhibition, a special packaging of the Pierre & Gilles Pompidou art swatch La Sirene Et Le Marin (GZ161) was launched in a numbered limited edition of 700 pieces.  The watch is packaged in a ball filled with glitters, almost like a snow globe.  The ball is flexible and not made of glass.  Here is another picture of the packaging and invitation.  Great packaging!  Here is a nice report by Martin Maguss about the reception:  "On Friday evening Swatch hosted a wonderful party for Pierre et Gilles.  Inviting 400 people who arrived from 7-8:00 where the special packaging was presented.  After a number of brief speeches the exhibit was  opened and we poured into the gallery.  It really is spectacular and I have to admit I am really proud of everyone involved.  Most of the U.S. Gold/Pioneer members were there, along with such personal friends as Rex Ray (Booster), Jennifer Morla (Dot Chair and Cappucino) and Michael Bartalos (Running Man) as well as other San Francisco celebrities.  At 8:00 the event opened to the public bringing the number of attendees to 4,000!  It was an exciting party, you almost couldn't move anywhere, but we all had a terrific time.  The original art for their Swatch was there as you entered into the exhibit (it will only be here for the duration of the exhibition, at which time it returns to Switzerland [to a private collection]) and then accompanied by 60 paintings that made up the rest of the exhibition.  Swatch was very generous in sponsoring the whole exhibit, which included 4 other artists.  Also by wearing any Swatch watch you can see the exhibit for free on sundays until the exhibit closes in may!  The official signing took place the next day at the Swatch store.  We lined up at noon to wait for the 2:00 pm signing.  Crowds attract crowds of course and there ended up being a line of 200 people!  The artists were awfully nice to sign every book, special or watch we had.  I am sure they were pretty tired by the time the signing finished.  Actually they extended the signing for another 1 1/2 hrs!  All in all it was probably one of the best U.S. Swatch events (if I do say so myself) that has been held in a long time!  I want to thank everyone for making it such a special "Special" weekend.  These Swatch memories will last for a very long time."  Thanks to Martin Maguss for the report, all information and pictures.
• Milano launch special.  On 8-FEB, the Spring/Summer 2001 swatch collection was launched in Milan, Italy.  About 100 italian journalists, 100 international journalists, and the gold/pioneer members were invited.  The new collection was presented in the Bibliotheca Ambrosiana.  This library is not open to the general public normally.  It features old books by Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton etc.  On this evening, it also featured swatch watches (pic2).  All guests received a nice special packaging of the watch page 1983. (GK338).  The watch is presented in a nice book (pic2, pic3, pic4).  The special packaging is numbered and limited to 450 pieces, very nice. If you have this special for trade, please send me an email, I am interested.  I have lots of rare swatches for trade.  So the place of the launch perfectly matches the theme of the new collection.  The new watches were presented by Nick Hayek jr.  He signed watches afterwards on request.  Sounds like a great event! Thanks to Marc Lenzinger for the information and pictures.
• Kukobeza Swiss Postal service.  In 1996, the Swiss Postal Financial Service released a special chrono Kukobeza (Sea Port, SCK402C with a new strap).  Here is a picture of the watch.  The box of the watch also has a special paper insert.  Thanks to Alain Choisy for the information and pictures.
• Leica Access special.  The German photo camera manufacturer Leica has released a "ski pass set" of the new APS camera C11.  In addition to the camera, the set also includes an access swatch (Radio-Zone, SHB105C) with a special strap carrying the red Leica logo.  Here is a picture of the watch.  Thanks to Thomas Buerki for the information.
• PriceWaterhouseCoopers Access special.  The consulting company PriceWaterhouseCoopers has released a special access swatch PriceWaterhouseCoopers (SKK103) in Switzerland.  Here is another picture.  It is limited to 800 pieces.  Thanks to Christine Tanner for the information.
• Japanese @Home skin special.  A skin special @Home (Jelly Skin, SFK100C, with a new strap) has been released in Japan.  Here is a picture.
• Valentine special 2001.  The valentine special 2001 is called Amour Total.  The watch will be sold in a special packaging featuring a shower curtain.  Price will be 80 Swiss Francs.  The watch has been designed by Albin Christen from Lausanne (Switzerland).  He also designed the Montreux Jazz Festival 2000 swatch earlier this year. Thanks to Mark Lenzinger for the information.