Recent Swatch info (Last updated: 22-FEB-2019)
- WANTED! Perfect Timing Swatch (#332/700). I am asking for your help. The
following bad incident has happened to a friend of mine without
internet access: The Perfect Timing Swatch (#332/700) has been stolen
on its way from the USA to Germany. Apparently, the package was opened
during transport and the watch (including the plexi glass tube) was
taken out of the parcel. The outer white cardboard tube was still in
the parcel and can be seen here. If this
watch shows up somewhere or is being offered for sale (remember that
it will come without the white paper tube), I would be VERY happy if
you could inform me about
the seller. This watch has been STOLEN! Back to the regular news
service:
- Club Swatch 2019. As
shown on the official Swatch Club China
website, the new Club Swatch for 2019 is called What
Yo Face (SUOZ303, 75 EURO) and it is packaged in a nice paper
sleeve. The watch has been designed by Chinese artist and
illustrator Ton Mak (creator of the Flabjacks
collection). She has
previously lived and worked as a resident
artist at the Swatch
Art Peace Hotel. More information about the Club
watch (translated
from Chinese). It is expected that a special limited
version of the new Club watch will be launched at several events in
March, similar to the last years. Update: The
first Club event has been announced: Paris (12-MAR).
- Swatch Rocket Air 2019. One
of the most important events on the Freeride
Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour, Swatch
Rocket Air celebrates its 10th anniversary this year on 3
and 4-MAY at the Eishalle Grabengut in Thun, Switzerland. More
information here
in this report (in German).
- Swatch Flymagic. On
14-FEB, Swatch has unveiled a completely new product line during a press conference with Swatch
Group CEO Nick Hayek, Swatch Creative Director Carlo
Giordanetti, and Swatch's VP and COO Gonzalo de
Cevallos at the new Swatch
HQ (finally finished!) in Biel: Swatch
Flymagic. It is a new collection of (currently)
three mechanical watches featuring anti-magnetic Nivachron hairsprings.
The watch is based on the SISTEM51 movement plus 15 additional
components, so it could be called a SISTEM66 :-) It is
constructed totally different by reversing the caliber: the new
balance spring, finely finished modules and skeletonized gear train
all can be seen on the face
of the watch – easily visible through the transparent rotor of
the automatic movement. There’s another Swatch first here, too – the
seconds hand runs backwards!
Three watches will be available initially on 30-APR in a limited
edition of 500 pcs (per watch), $1500 US watch: two watches in
stainless steel (YHS100S and YHS101S)
and one in stainless steel with a red gold PVD coating (YHG100S).
Each watch comes in a special box with a
rubber strap and two calf leather straps (closed
box). The watch is numbered
xxx/500 on ring in the center (front). Hodinkee
has more technical information and photos. The back
of the watch does not look typically Swatch. The watch is
also thicker compared to other Swatch
watches (diameter is 45 mm). Totally different but a really
exciting construction... Here
is a great promotional video by Swatch, filmed in the new Swatch HQ in
Biel. Swiss newspaper NZZ
has a nice report about the Swatch Flymagic. Update:
Fratello Watches has a wonderful report
with lots of great Swatch Flymagic photos, check it out!
- New Spring / Summer 2019
Collection online. The new Swatch collection Transformation
Time (part of the Swatch Spring / Summer 2019 Swatch
collection) is now available in the Swatch online shop as a
pre-release. The watches will be available in the local Swatch
stores starting 10-JAN. The new 2019 Club watch will also be
available on that date. Update: The Good Life has
more
information about the new collection (in French) including a few
pictures of watches which will be launched later in March
(Listen To Me collection) and April
(Energy Boost collection). The report also mentions a SISTEM51
with a 3D dial and finally the launch of the Pigcasso
Art Special (designed by the world’s only painting
pig!) in February.
The watches were presented just before the Paris Fashion Week (15 to
20-JAN). Update: On 21-FEB, the next part (Listen
To Me) of the Spring / Summer 2019 Swatch collection was
launched online in an early pre-release. Lots of great
watches! I am sure that Blue
Sweet (SUOB159) will be a huge success... (Pinkapippa
(GE267) too :-) Another great New Gent watch is Orange
Pusher (SUOW167) which has
been designed by Lebanese graffiti artist Jad
El Khoury.
- SwatchXYou next level.
According to this Instagram
post by Swatch UK, #SwatchXYou
(the personalized Swatch) will be going to the "next level" very
soon. Maybe some real customization? (= design your own
Swatch) Update: Almost and it is truly
fantastic: You can pick a
design and make your own Swatch here. You can hover
a virtual Swatch over your favourite pattern (currently six
different ones are available), drop it where you like and customize
your design with two different transparent watch heads (black or grey
mechanics). Your customized design is printed on the watch strap
and on the back of the watch (you can also add up to 15 letters for a
name etc. there). Here
is an example and here
is another one. You can do this online (3 working days +
delivery) or immediately in selected Swatch stores (eg. Zurich
airport [be sure to check out all pics]). Lots of space
for individualization. Update: Here
are some photos of my SwatchXYou "next level" Swatch (HSUOK137).
It is packaged in a red paper sleeve.
The watch and the strap look fantastic and the printing is much better
than expected, it really looks robust. Be sure to check out all
10 photos in
order to admire all details of this amazing technology! Update
2: SwatchXYou "next level" is finally available
in the USA in FEB-2019. For a limited time, a special
artist canvas by NYC artist Edward
Granger is available exclusively in the USA.
- GLAM Event in Milano. On
21-FEB (during the Milano
Fashion Week), Swatch held a GLAM
event at the Swatch store Via Montenapoleone. Wildon
Aguila has sent me a few
photos from the event. No Swatch special, just a great
party!
- Swatch Club website
updated. club.swatch.com
has been updated with the design of the current Club watch What
Yo Face (SUOZ303).
- Coperion special. Coperion is an
industry leader in compounding and extrusion, feeding and weighing,
bulk material handling and service. They have issued a special
Irony Chrono Coperion
(YCS113E). It is an Irony Chrono Classylicious
(YCS113C) from 2017 with a new strap with the Coperion logo on
the loop.
- Cartoon Network special. Cartoon Network has
issued a nice special Gent Swatch Cartoon
Network (GW704C). It is an Gent Off
The Grill (GW704) from 2014 with a very nice new
strap with the Cartoon Network logo on the
loop around the strap.
- RIP Alessandro Mendini. Italian
architect and designer Alessandro
Mendini has passed
away aged 87. He also has designed many
Swatch watches and other Swatch related items (including the
colourful Swatch shop architecture of the mid 90s). Here
are a few pictures of the meet & greet session on 12-APR-2016 in
Milano for the release of Spot The Dot
(SUOZ213).
- New Swatch HQ in Biel. About
six years after the winner of the architectural competition (Shigaru
Ban from Japan) for the new Swatch HQ in Biel had been
announced,
the spectacular wooden building has finally been opened to the
public for the Swatch Flymagic
press conference. Berner Zeitung has a lot of photos
and a nice report. The official opening will be in
about three months as there is some final work to do.
Originally, it was planned to open the building in 2015.
- SwatchXNico special. It
seems as if Swatch will launch a new ProTeam special SwatchXNico
(with Freeski ProTeam member Nico
Vuignier) on 09-FEB at the
Swatch Store in Crans Montana. Update:
The press section on the Swatch website has more
information about the special: The new ProTeam special SwatchXNico
is the first of nine new Proteam Specials which will be released
from FEB-2019 through the end of 2021. The specials will be
based on the SwatchXYou platform. For the first special, Nico Vuignier has collaborated
with the Chilean artist Gabriel
Ebensperger. Together, they created the new
SwatchXYou design C'est bien Nils!
This design can be used to create
your own unique Swatch special
(as with other SwatchXYou designs). I love this idea! Update:
The new SwatchXYou design C'est
bien Nils! will be available online starting 11-FEB.
It has a black background. During the launch event on
09-FEB in Crans Montana with Nico and Gabriel, a special
variant of the SwatchXYou design with a white background
was offered to the Event participants, only available in a special
packaging during this event (239 pcs, not numbered). Nico also signed autograph cards and a
unique Maxi Swatch created by
Gabriel Ebensperger was raffled among event participants. A few
goodies (socks and pins)
were also given away. A special
page on the Swatch website has more details about the creation
process for this watch. Update: Photos of the
actual watches: regular black
version / limited white
version (only available in Crans Montana on 09-FEB). Thanks to Ines Brem for the info
and photos and to Fabien Perissinotto for the photo. Some
photos by @swatchclub.
- Pigcasso artist special. I
am still not sure if this was a joke or not: During the shareholder
assembly 2018 in Grenchen, Swatch Group CEO G.
N. Hayek jr. announced a special Swatch Pigcasso
collection consisting of three Swatch watches. The watches
have been designed
/ painted by a pig (yes!). The Pigcasso collection will be
launched at the end of 2018 and each watch will include a certificate
of authenticity. More pig pictures in my shareholder
assembly 2018 photo album. As Nick Hayek talked a few
minutes about the collection and as he showed several pictures, I
assume that this is for real :-) See also www.pigcasso.org.
Oink! Update: According to this report,
the Pigcasso New Gent art special Flying
Pig By Ms Pigcasso (SUOZ299S, 110 EURO) will be launched
in a limited edition number of 2019 pcs starting from 05-FEB (Chinese
New Year, 2019 is the year of the pig! 888 pcs of this watch
will go to China). This Instagram
posting has a photo of the special
packaging. Looks great! Update 2: Great
promotional video by Swatch HK! Update 3: Here
are pictures of the actual watch. Superb! Sold
out already in many countries. Here
is a nice webpage on the official Swatch website with videos and more
infos!
- Veggie triptych. You
probably know the legendary Vegetable
POP specials ("The Swatchetables") from 1991 (designed by Swiss
artist Alfred Hofkunst),
limited to 9999 pcs, numbered. You also probably know that the
first 333 pcs were sold in a special triptych, signed and numbered by
Alfred Hofkunst. This Swatchetables triptych was sold for a lot
of money (3333 CHF?) back then in art galleries. But I guess
that you haven't seen this triptych so far. Here we go: Swatchetables triptych in the packaging
/ 3 veggie watches in one big sealed
packaging in the triptych / 3
veggie watches in one big sealed packaging / 3
veggie watches in one big sealed packaging backside signed / Swatchetables triptych half assembled
(packaging not opened!). The bigger leaflet shown on the
pictures is not the usual DIN A4 sized veggie folder. It is
printed on much thicker paper. I think that it is part of the
triptych packaging. The smaller leaflet shown on the pictures is
from a Hofkunst Auction By Mangisch
(28-SEP-1991, Rudolf
Mangisch, Zürich) [backside].
During this auction, signed veggie watches, sketches
for the veggie watches, ... were auctioned. The auction leaflet
also shows a signed EA veggie set, including a Verduhra
EA 20/20. Here are photos of the complete EA 20/20
set (surely sold at this Mangisch auction in 1991): front
/ back / closeup
back. EA stands for "epreuve artiste" (= artist
proof). Finally a bonus photo of a signed
regular veggie set.
- Swatch The Beep Pager in
Germany. In the mid 90s, Swatch was also active in the
telecommunication industry (phones, pager, answering machines, even
mobile phones). It is very hard to get a complete list (with
names and ref.no.) for these items as much of this information is lost
over time. Here
is a photo album with some (also internal) information about Swatch
The Beep Pager Fall/Winter 1995 and more (Germany).
- A CEO and his Swatch
obsession. Dino has found a great online
radio interview with the Audemars Piguet CEO François-Henry
Bennahmias where he talks for about 10 minutes about his
Swatch obsession in the mid 90s (starts at 53:14).
- Swatch Loves Art Taiwan.
A great exhibition called Swatch
Loves Art is currently on display at the Huashan
Cultural and Creative center (Swatch Art Basement Store) in
Taipei, Taiwan. Swatch Club Pioneer member Sophia Chang has many nice
photos from the exhibition (including an origin Kiki
Picasso special). The exhibition will be open until
08-APR. Thanks to
Leo Lee for the information.
- History of .beat Internet
Time. Here
is a nice report (in German) about the history of .beat
Internet Time and how it failed to get a wider acceptance.
- Souvenirs of Hong Kong. A
nice Swatch souvenir set
consisting of a Swatch plate, Swatch spoon, and Swatch chop sticks is
now available as a gift with purchase at the Swatch
concept store in Hong Kong. The special Swatch store has
been designed by Elina
Chatzichronoglou,
she also designed the Swatch
Megastore at CentralWorld in Bangkok.
- Pyeongchang Olympics 2018 IOC
special. Alain Choisy has published
a photo of a very nice Pyeongchang Olympics 2018 IOC
special: Sistem Earth IOC
(YIZ401). The watch is a SISTEM51 Irony Sistem
Earth (YIS400) with olympic rings on the dial and a special
engraving on the side of the watch case: "IOC LIMITED EDITION
PYEONGCHANG 2018". Very hard to find...
- German
Automatic specials. An interesting automatic special
has surfaced in 2013 in Germany: SAB103C
(Automatic Black Board from 1995 with
a special loop around the strap). The loop seems to be the one
from the Inocente
Spain special from 2002 but SAB103C was not part of the
specials back then as far as I know. Strange... Update:
In 2019, another similar automatic special surfaced in Germany:
SAM103D (Automatic Classic Cheddar from 1994
with a special loop around the strap). Thanks to Nikolai Kuttler and to Stefan Kluge for the pictures.
- Stauffer special. The
Swiss acoustic protection company Stauffer
has issed a Scuba Swatch special Stauffer
(SDR101C). Limitation and release date are unknown.
- SwatchPAY! (re)launched in
Switzerland. On 17-JAN, SwatchPAY!
has been (re)launched
for Switzerland in Zurich (main train station in an old
VW Bus) with four new SwatchPAY! watches (85 CHF each):
1. BlackBack PAY!
(SVIB105-5300); 2. Pastel PAY!
(SVIP101-5300); 3. Magic PAY!
(SVIW109-5300); 4. Chic PAY!
(SVIW108-5300). The SwatchPAY! ("the coolest way to PAY!")
watches are packaged in a nice paper sleeve.
The watch can be used for "on the wrist" payments with banking cards
of six different Swiss banks/card
issuers. and boon
by Wirecard. You can find additional information
about the payment functionality here
and here
(both in German). And here
is a somewhat critical report about the payment solution by UBS and
Swatch.
- Eight Six
Four Three Medtronic
"Presidents Club" Swatch specials. Recently, four three mysterious
Swatch specials have surfaced in Germany (and Portugal): They
are very similar strap variants (a "P" on the loop around the strap)
of the New Gent Swatch Look Through (SUOK105) from 2013. The
special Swatch is available with a black strap
(SUOK105K), a transparent strap (SUOK105N),
and a white strap (SUOK105?).
The watches were awarded to members of the Presidents
Club (link does not work) of the medical technology
company Medtronic. Update:
A special Swatch with a blue strap
(SUOK105I) also exists. Update: Four
Two more
"Presidents Club" Swatch specials have surfaced. The guarantee
for these is dated 27-JUL-2018, so I am fairly sure that these were
distributed later than the first four: 5. Color
My Laquered Presidents Club (SUOS101D); 6. Blue
Grey Lacquered Presidents Club (SUON102D); 7. Black Lacquered Presidents Club
(SUOB101E); 8. Gilt Ghost Presidents
Club (SUOK106F). Thanks
to Fabrizio for the information and to Pedro
Mota for the update.
- London Orb Sale. On
23-APR-1993, 1000 out of 49999 POP Art Specials Orb
(by Vivienne
Westwood) were sold in London at the London
Planetarium. Here are all
the details about the launch event (quite interesting, I would have
loved to watch the queues...). The Independent had a newspaper
report about the launch back then...
- Laax Open 2019 special. After
a pause of many years, Swatch is again a partner of the the Laax
Open snowboarding event, taking place from 14 to 19-JAN in
Laax, Switzerland. This report
mentions a special Laax Open Swatch
issued for this event, exclusively available at the Swatch event booth
in Laax. It is a XX-Rated
New Gent (red or black, 75 CHF) with a special Laax Open
loop around the strap, packaged in a special paper
sleeve.
- Chinese Year Of The Pig
special. 2019 is the Year
of the Pig according to the Chinese calendar. As in the
last years, Swatch will release a special Swatch: A Gent Gem
Of New Year (GZ319) packaged in a nice special
packaging (opened). The watch
is already on sale in several Asian countries including Hong
Kong. Update: German Santiago has
discovered a giant Gem Of New
Year Maxi at Swatch
Philippines
HQ and R.J.Valdez has spotted another giant Gem
Of New Year Maxi inside
Ayala Mall in Makati.
Thanks to
Thomas Chan for the photo.
- Shanghai Art Peace Hotel special
2019. A new Shanghai
Swatch Art Peace Hotel New Gent special is available
since 06-JAN: Timeless
Landscape (SUOZ291, 630 CNY, approx. 80
EURO). The watch has been
designed by Chinese artist Han
Feng, former resident at the Art Peace Hotel in early
2017. The watch is packaged in a nice paper
sleeve. Here is a picture of
the actual watch and here
is the official announcement on Instagram. The watch is
available at the Swatch
Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai and online in China on
TMall.
Previously, Swatch has issued five Swatch Art Peace Hotel
specials: 1. Peace
Hotel (GZ226S, 2010, 888 pcs); 2. Bund
19 (GZ228, 2010); 3. Peace
Of Art (SUOZ160, 2013, also available as a limited version
SUOZ160-1);
4. Black
& White The Swatch Art Peace Hotel (SUOZ197,
2014); 5. Juls
At Swatch Art Peace Hotel (SUOZ217, 2016) [not sure if
this one should be considered more as an Artist Special].
Thanks to Sophia
Chang for the photos and information.
- Valentine 2019 special. According
to this report,
the Swatch Valentine special for 2019 is a Gent Swatch Triple
Love (GZ322S). The watch is limited and numbered to
5143 pcs. It comes
in a special Valentine’s Day box and
costs 70 EURO (available starting 10-JAN).
- Swatch Aristocrazy collection in
the Swatch Online Store. The
Swatch X Aristocrazy collection is now available in more
countries (eg. Italy) in the Swatch Online Store.
- Vans 50th anniversary
special. For the 50th anniversary of Vans
(manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel) in 2016, a
special New Gent Swatch Vans 50th
anniversary (SUOB116E)
was given to employees
only. It was designed with the help of Jürgen
Blümlein (curator of a German
Skateboard Museum). Thanks to Fred Mcfarland for the
information and photo.
- Nord Stream special. A
special Access Swatch Nord Stream
(SKK124R) was released in Germany(?) by Nord
Stream AG in NOV-2011 to celebrate the first transport of
gas through pipline Nord
Stream Line 1. No further info so far.
- Veggie sketches. A few hand-drawn sketches for the
famous Vegetable
art specials (by Alfred
Hofkunst) were auctioned
in Zurich on 14-DEC. The auction also included the three
watches, a T-shirt, and the press map. Rare! Final result
was 1300 CHF (plus 20,0% auction fee).
- X Factor Italy special. Swatch
is a sponsor / partner of the TV show X
Factor Italia. A dedicated website www.xfactorswatchthis.it
exists, featuring the New Gent XX-Rated
Black (SUOB402) and XX-Rated
Red (SUOR400). On 09-DEC, the "Presentatori X Factor
Daily" Benji &
Fede played a small concert
at the Swatch Store Milano Gae Aulenti.
A special XX-Rated Black / X
Factor, IT (SUOB402D)
was released in a limited edition of only 100 pcs, only available at
the Swatch Store Milano Gae Aulenti. The watch has the Benji
& Fede logo on a special
loop around the strap. Update: During the X
Factor Italia TV show, a special (probably unique) Swatch
Maxi was shown on TV (in the background).
Thanks to Alain
Choisy for the photo.
- 2018 Holiday Event /
Special. The 2018
Swatch Club Holiday Event will took place on the first weekend
of December (30-NOV to 02-DEC) in the city of Athens,
Greece. The 110 participants at the event received a very special
New Gent SwatchXYou Lucky Mushrooms
Universe (SUOZ292S), the
watch is limited and numbered to 200 pcs on the sticker,
on the special packaging, and on the
back of the watch. Here
is a picture of the opened special packaging. In addition to
the special strap of the watch, each club member received two random
straps from previous collections. So the content of (almost)
every packaging is different! Great idea! The packaging
also contains two special loops: "Holiday
/ 2018" on the front and "swatch /
club" on the back. The watch has a very nice face,
superb! Here is a detailed report with
many photos about the club event.
- Destination Montreal
special. A new Destination special for Montreal (Canada)
was launched on 07-DEC: A New Gent L'Esprit
De Montréal (SUON705N)
$110 CAD). It is a New Gent Backup
Blue (SUON705)
from 2014 with a special strap. This
is Destination Special #51. Thanks to
Thomas Chan and Elvin Rawlins for the information.
- Older swatch news. Click here
to read older swatch news with more pictures and info. Check it
out if you haven't!
- I am currently looking for:
- Spot Mickey MAXI (MGZ323S) by Damien Hirst
- PunkXJob MAXI (MSUOZ280S) by Studio Job
- 1983 swatches mint only: GG400, GT402, GB100 FHL, GG400 FHL,
GN100 FHL, GN400 FHL
- "blister" plastic boxes for 1982/1983 swatches.
- original plastic boxes for Keith Haring (with correct price
sticker) for: Modele Avec Personnages (GZ100)
- all Fachhandellogo Swatches (on the face, not on the strap), mint
or even worn out.
- Folders, brochures, documentation, advertisement material up to
1986.
- Prototypes, variants, hybrids, test models.
- and: Kiki Picasso (poster piece) and Mimmo Paladino, ...
Hey! Jerry thinks that my humble
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Andreas Wiethoff