Stay tuned to
Swatch
This page does not contain any fancy pictures but I hope to provide some
substantial information for collectors. If you want to see some pictures
of interesting swatches then go to my virtual
swatch museum. Although I am probably a bit biased, it is highly recommended
,
especially the section about special packagings.
Older Swatch info
news from 2003 are below:
- Japanese Happy Joe & Happy Jenny xmas special. Swatch
The Club Japan has released a special packaging Merry
Xmas Happy Joe & Happy Jenny (limited to 400
pcs). The packaging can contain any of the six brand new Japanese
only Happy Joe & Happy Jenny Irony
swatches. The new colors are red, black, and white. The
special packaging was launched during a club event on 14-DEC held in
Tokyo with 20 selected club members participating. Earlier (in may
2002), Japanese only special colored Happy
Joe & Happy Jenny Irony swatches were sold, with
different colors. Thanks to Yuji Tada for the
information and pictures.
- Geneva / Chamonix Xmas event special. On the weekend
of 6-DEC, Swatch The Club held a xmas event in Switzerland: In
Chamonix and Geneva. You can read a nice report on Nikolai
Kuttler's nice webpage.
The
collectors received a nice (low numbered) version
of this year's xmas special Jingle Jangle:
The difference to the regular version is a white imprint on the
box: "Swatch the Club - Christmas Event 2003 - Geneva -
Switzerland" and the cloth inside of the box is white instead of
red. Here is a report about the event
by Tracey Waldron. Here
is a very very nice picture collection from the event by Markus Muth.
- Otazu/Swatch Auction for Warchild. Through Squiggly's
website, a very special Swatch
Skin in co-operation with Swatch Group Netherlands, Otazu and
Gassan Diamonds was auctioned for charity! The watch is provided
by Swatch and completely re-styled to a unique piece of jewelry/art by
the world famous jewelry/designer Otazu.
Otazu is really hot, he designs jewelry for Kylie Minogue and Madonna.
He mostly works with Swarovski stones, but in this piece he also used a
real diamond which is provided by Gassan
Diamonds. The closing of the auction is on Sunday, December 14,
2003 at 7 PM. The watch sold for 2400 Euro to Italy.
Swatch, Otazu, Gassan and Squiggly donate the proceeds to Warchild. Hereyou can find
more information about the watch, and place your bid on the watch.
- Swatch USA Christmas Events. Swatch The Club hosted
five Christmas parties across the USA on Tuesday, 2 December. Here is a report by Brian Pier about the
events: "On December 2, Swatch the Club held
Christmas parties in Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
In addition to good food and drink, a number of collectors had the
chance to visit. At each store, a grand prize was given away. Here
is a picture of the green Christmas treasure chest closed. Here
is a picture of the Christmas treasure chest opened along with Claudia
(the winner in Chicago). Each of the chests contained Jingle Jangle
plus a vintage Christmas Swatch. In Miami, the special was Xian Lax.
In Chicago, Pompadour. Los Angeles had Hollywood Dreams and San
Francisco had Bergstrussli. The winner of the lucky draw had the right
to purchase Jingle Jangle and they received the vintage special for
free. Everyone who attended received a special
long sleeve tshirt listing all of the Swatch Christmas specials.
A very nice evening that was extra special for the four winners."
Here is a report by Tracey Waldron about the Xmas event in San
Francisco: "The party at the SF Swatch store had
less than a dozen collectors show up. At 9pm - sharp - they had
the drawing for the Jingle Jangle special package which included a
Christmas swatch of old. The old swatch SF received was
Bergstrussli. The special only cost $80 and a collector did win
it. The special came in a green woven box with a gold plaque on
the outside that said something about the year and the jingle jangle
special. Inside was a Jingle Jangle watch, t-shirt &
Bergstrussli. Everyone that showed up received a special
Christmas t-shirt, reindeer antlers and glasses."
- Guinness book of records event. A Guinness
book of records event took place in Portugal on 2-DEC: The
aim was to establish a world record in the largest number of
interconnected Swatch watches. The event started at 1700 and was
attended by 33 Club members as well as Patrick Jaron from Club
International. Naturally, a person from Guinness Book of World
Records was also present ? she counted the watches! The world
record was set, and it consisted of 1382 working
plastic Swatch watches. Each participant received a special
packaging of a new Touch swatch, numbered to 33
pcs. Thanks to Ricardo Rocha for the info
and pictures.
- Dadazüri turnover special. Swatch will release a
second Dada special soon. It is a Turnover swatch called Dadazüri
(SUFZ100). The watch is numbered and limited to 8590 pcs.
Every special contains a different piece(only
very
few square millimeters) of original letter writing paper of the
"movement dada" (1920) or from a dada flyer "papillion dada"
(1919/1920). The first pieces were cut on 3-APR-2003 at the watch
and jewelry fair in Basel by Nicolas G. Hayek Sr., Nick Hayek Jr., and
the city president of Zürich, Elmar Ledergerber. You can find more
info about the Dada swatch specials at David Rippmann's nice website.
- Two Austrian Access specials. Two different access
specials from Austria have surfaced: The first one is called A1(a scuba access Icicle, SHK101D)
and it has been distributed by the biggest mobile phone company in
Austria: A1. Limitation is
unknown. The second access special is quite interesting: The
security company EVVA is
using an access swatch EVVA Door Access
(a Clearance access, SKK103, with a special strap; no special
ref.no.) as part of a security
system. Limitation is also unknown. Thanks
to Roberto Tintori for the pictures and information.
- Frankfurt Store Anniversary special. On 22-NOV, the
Frankfurt Swatch store in Germany, celebrated the 10th anniversary of
the store. To commemorate this occasion, a special
packaging of the brand new Touch Alarm swatch Be
On Time (STAM 100) was sold at the store (sold out by
now). The watch in the paper sleeve is also quite special as it
has a nice golden "SWATCH Store
Frankfurt 1993-2003" imprint on the strap. The special
packaging is numbered and limited
to 110 pcs.
- German Touch Launch Event special. On 15-NOV, a Swatch
The Club event Train Your Touch (launch of the Touch series)
took place at a fitness studio in Offenbach, Germany. About 90
club members participated at the event (fitness training and
bowling). A limited special packaging
of the Touch Game swatch Ask Your Swatch
was given to participants. The special is limited to only 60 pcs
(unnumbered)! Here
is a small report with pictures
from the event! Thanks Semra, Susanne, Wolfgang, ... for a
wonderful event :-)
- Swiss Touch Launch Event special. For the launch of
the upcoming Touch swatch watches, a
launch event was held in Zurich, Switzerland on 13-NOV. A special
packaging of the Touch Game swatch Ask
Your Swatch was distributed in a limited edition of 300
numbered pcs. Thanks to Christine Tanner for the
pictures and information.
- Rio de Janeiro Volleyball special. On the
weekend of 9 to 13-OCT, the Swatch-FIVB
Beach
Volleyball World Tour stopped in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A
Swatch The Club Event took place on that weekend. To commemorate the
event, a special packaging of the Skin Chrono Skyball
(SUYK 107) was released in a limited and numbered edition of 75
pcs. The packaging is similar
to the US Los Angeles special from September, see below for
details. The difference is a picture of Rio de Janeiro on the
box. Participants of the Swatch The Club event also received
a welcome package with a T-shirt, swatch backpack, cap, ... Here
is a small report about the club event by Henk Seligman: "Some
20 international G+P members were present as was Patrick (head of
swatch the club) and they were treated to a filled programme which
included: boating/swimming (on friday 10th), sightseeing (the
Christ-statue on Corcovado), a brazilian show and dance with display
of samba-costumes. Of course the participants were wined and
dined frequently from fish- and seafood-buffets to meats galore
brazilian style (right from the skewers on your plate, and of course
all you could eat). A special treat was lunch at the confeitaria
Colombo (rice with black beans and all kinds of pork meats) finished
off by a rich choice of pastries for which the place is famous.
Sightings of Copcabana-beach (where the tounament was held) and
Ipanema (sorry no girl when we were there) also included. The
beachvolleyball-tournament during the event were merely the
semi-finals and finals of the ladies-teams, the men started their
games when we had to go home again. Weather-conditions were
poor, we were treated to rain all during our visit." Thanks to Henk Seligmann for the nice report.
- Xmas special 2003. The Xmas special 2003 is called JiNgLe JaNgLe, it will be packaged
together with a moose. When you press
the nose of the moose, you can hear the "Jingle Bells" melody.
This year, the xmas special will be sold in a limited edition of 14999
pcs. Here is a picture of the
packaging. Thanks to Emanuele
Bertodo for the info and pictures.
- Spiga store 1st anniversary event. To celebrate the
first anniversary of the special store in the Via della Spiga in Milano,
Italy, an event party took place on 29-OCT-2003 in "parking majno" (via
majno) and a special square swatch called Flying
Treasure (SUBK111) has been released. The watch is
very very nice, it is limited to 500 pcs. Even better is the more
limited (200 pcs) special
packaging of the watch that was also distributed at the 1st
anniversary event. The special packaging is a plexiglass suitcase
containing the watch and a box with a very high quality, arty
brochure. Participants also could take home a nice special
chair, similar to the chair
distributed at the Wristory
Event in 2001. Update: Here
is a nice report by Rob Gough with lovely pictures about the
event! The official Swatch webpage contains a nice feature
about the Spiga store and the current collection, check it out! Thanks to Rob Versteeg of Squiggly,
Roberto Quadrini, Andrea Marco Faggioli, and Laura Magon for the
information.
- Japanese Access special. An access special called Familiar
(SKK124D)
has been in Japan in a limited edition of 2000 pcs. It is released
by a baby shop called familiar.
The
watch is packaged in a nice paper
box. Here is a picture of the opened
box. The watch is a new
model, called Clearance Two
(SKK124). It is a Citypass Swatch, therefore not usable
for skiing! It is not yet released on its own but it will be
available soon! You can find more pictures of the Familiar special
at Yasuhiro Minato's excellent swatch
page. Thanks to Yuji Tada and Alain Choisy
for the pictures and information.
- Dada ist da! On 25-OCT, Swatch placed a full page advertisement in one of Germany's biggest
newspapers: Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung. As you can see, the full page ad
looks quite empty besides the line "Dada ist da!" (Dada is here), so the
newspaper also contained six more small ads
containing pieces of the Dada Traces
Swatch special. When completed, the ad looks like this.
It
also contains some information about the Dada movement and the
restauration of the Dada-House in Zurich, Switzerland. I cannot
remember that Swatch has ever put a full page ad in one of
Germany's newspapers... So a very nice ad to draw some attention
on Swatch again!
- Zürich store opening special. A new Jellyfish swatch
store has opened on 9-OCT in Zürich, Switzerland. A special
packaging of the Champs
de
Züri gent (GR134V), limited and and numbered to 300 pcs was
released. Here is a picture of the
back of the packaging. Here
are pictures from the opening event. Here
are more pictures from the event on the official swatch site. Thanks to David Rippmann and Christine Tanner for the
pictures and information.
- Dutch 'Bep van Klaveren' Special. The Swatch
Store Rotterdam and 'Made in Rotterdam' honor the Dutch Olympic light
weight boxing champion of 1928, Bep van Klaveren, with a special
packaging (250 pcs, not numbered). The pack contains a (Dutch)
book with interviews, a CD with interviews, and the Translucent
Dream (SUDK105) with an image of Bep van Klaveren on the
strap. You can buy the packaging through squiggly.
- Club Swatch 2003. The award for the most boring swatch
of the year goes to: Flipped Out
(SUFZ101), the new club swatch 2003. Here
is a picture of the content of the packaging of the watch. Thanks to Alain Choisy for the picture.
- New Scuba Access. A new scuba access Mountains
Sentinel (SHB109) is now available in Switzerland. The
watch is not in the current swatch catalogue. Thanks
to
Alain Choisy for the picture and information.
- Austria Starmania specials. Swatch is a co-sponsor of
the TV show Starmania in
Austria. Two special Starmania swatch watches are now available in
the Swatch shops in Austria: An access swatch 4StarsOnly
(access Moonstruck (SKK115) with a new strap) and a gent swatch Lot´s
of
Stars (a gent Transparent (GK209) (?) with a new
strap). The official swatch site contains some more information
about the watches (in German).
- Dada Movement Swatch. Read
all about it on the official swatch webpage. It seems that a Dada
special swatch is now available in Switzerland: A gent special Dada Traces (GZ184). Here
is a closeup of the watch face. Thanks to Jacky
Beauverd (la mine d'or) for the
pictures.
- FR@gMentS OF >TIME< WITH SWATCH WATCHES. A new
web page by french artist Laurent Stefani has just been opened: It
is called FR@gMentS OF
>TIME< (new address!). Laurent has his own vision of
creating art works made with and made of swatch watches, so check it
out!
- NYC Times Square Swatch Store. A new swatch
store was opened on 1-MAY at 8PM (the last workers left the store
at 6PM!) at the Time Square
(Broadway and 45th Street) in New York City. Here is a small
report by Aleksandr Grushko about the opening event: "No
special watches / no special packagings were produced for the opening
event. The employees, however, got a special treat - a watch
("Blue Jacket" access) with a loop that says "Thank
You, from Nicolas" (only those employees who are the first to
work at the Times Square store got it, so they only made about 10 of
these loops). Ref.code is SKN104D.
Nicolas Hayek sent quite a few watches from his personal collection to
be displayed at the store (2
Keith Haring watches, 3 Folon watches, 2 "Breakdance" watches, "Hocus
Pocus", etc.). The store
won't carry any older watches for sale." Here
is a picture of the construction site and here is an older picture
from last winter. Update: Here
are pictures and impressions by Brian Pier from his recent visit to the
store. Thanks to Thomas Bürki and Aleksandr
Grushko for the pictures and information.
- Nuremberg Store Opening Square
special. On 2-OCT, a new swatch store opened in Nuremberg
(Nürnberg), Germany. To commemorate this event, a very very
special swatch was sold on the opening day in a limited edition of 150
pcs (it sold out immediately!): A new square swatch called Sabotage (SUAB400C)
with a nice embossed black strap.
It
is not "just another" watch with a refitted strap, but it is a model
that was never sold before. If you look closely at the dial, you
will note that "(c) SWATCH AG 2000" is imprinted on the dial, the production
code is also from 2000 (week 42 of 2000). So it is an older
watch that was already produced but it was withdrawn from sale at last
minute for the first square collection. The watch (not
numbered) is packaged with a nice paper
sleeve with a number xxx/150.
The text on the sleeve reads: "Swatch versetzt Nürn 'Berge'"
(swatch can move a mountain). A nice special 'i
love swatch' heart made of gingerbread (Lebkuchen,
a speciality from Nuremberg) was also given away during the day.
- Los Angeles Volleyball special. On the weekend
of 17 to 21-SEP, the Swatch-FIVB
Beach
Volleyball World Tour stopped in Los Angeles, USA. A Swatch
The Club Event took place on that weekend. To commemorate the event, a special packaging of the Skin Chrono Skyball(SUYK
107)
was released in a limited and numbered
edition of 75 pcs. The special packaging
is a carton box containing a volleyball
with a picture of the FIVB tour on the side. Participants of the
Swatch The Club event also received a welcome
package with a T-shirt, swatch backpack, cap, ... Hereis
a
detailed report about the event with a few pictures by Tracey
Waldron and Brian Pier (Brian's photos just added!). Thanks
to Tracey Waldron and Brian Pier for the information and pictures.
- Dresden "Festival der Sinne" special. For the first
anniversary of the Swatch Store in Dresden and celebrating the Festival
der Sinne (festival of senses), a quite nice special
packaging (limited and numbered to 100 pcs) of the Frenzied
Purple gent (GE121) has been released. The watch comes
in a little bag made of velvet material, it carries a small certificate
with the number on the back. The
special is already sold out. Thanks to Holger
Brinkmann for the pictures.
- Italian Swatch Store specials. Germany has them, so
Italy has to get them as well: Five different swatch stores in the
area of Milano (Sesto S. Giovanni, Rescaldina,
Carugate, Paderno Dugnano, and Busnago)
have released a special packaging numbered
and limited to 200 pcs each. The packaging (a nice wooden
box with a paper sleeve) can
contain any swatch from the current condition. Thanks
to Alain Choisy for the information and pictures.
- Wristory Box. Recently, a special packaging calledSwatch Wristory Box has been
released by Swatch Taiwan. Less than 200 pieces were actually
distributed. Here is a picture of
the back of the box. The watch inside can be any swatch from the
previous collection (warehouse clearing time!). Update: The
Wristory box is also available at Swatch Stores in Germany. Each
store can pick a few older models for the boxes, and you have to buy the
watch to get the box. Thanks to
Yih-Jeng Wu for the information and pictures.
- Italy Beach Volleyball special. On the weekend of
3 to 7-SEP, the Swatch-FIVB
Beach
Volleyball World Tour stopped in Milano, Italy. A Swatch The
Club Event took place on that weekend. To commemorate the event, a
special packaging of the Skin
Chrono Skyball(SUYK
107)
with a real Beach Volleyball, limited and numbered
to 80 pcs, was released. Participants of the event also
received a welcome
package with Swatch The Club marsupium pouch, cap, T-shirt, FIVB
bracelet pass, FIVB sticker, neck key chain with pass. Ezio Perino
has two pictures (pic1
/ pic2) from
the event on his webpage.
- Vendôme Swatches available in more stores. The swatch
watches from the 'exclusive' Vendôme collection are now also available
at the three Boutiques Tourbillon in Switzerland (Basel,
Lausanne, and Lugano). The Boutiques Tourbillon sell
luxury watches such as Breguet, Blancpain, Jaquet Droz, Glashütte
Original. Thanks to Thomas Bürki for the information.
- Swatch Cleanup Day. In conjunction with the Swatch
Beach volleyball event in Los Angeles (September 18 - 22): Swatch
Wants You for a good cause on 20-SEP.
- Stretchy french special packaging. A very nice special
packaging of the very nice gent swatch Stretchy
(GE119) has been released in France.
Limitation is unknown, the packaging is not numbered. Thanks
to Philippe Danjean for the information and pictures.
- Portugal Beach Volleyball special. On the
weekend of 23 to 27-JUL, the Swatch-FIVB
Beach
Volleyball World Tour stopped in Espinho, Portugal. A Swatch
The Club Event took place on that weekend. To commemorate the
event, a special packaging of
the Scuba Access Cut
Shot (SHK104), limited and numbered to 73 pcs, was
released. The plastic box contains beach sand from Espinho, a
swatch beach towel, the watch and some papers of the event.
There are two versions of the box: one with blue and one with red
handles. Thanks to Pedro Coelho and Ricardo Rocha for
the information and pictures.
- Austria Beach Volleyball special. On the weekend
of 30-JUL to 3-AUG, the Swatch-FIVB
Beach
Volleyball World Tour stopped in Klagenfurt, Austria. A
special version of the Scuba access Antifreeze (SHK100C; an additional loop around the beach volley strap)
was made for this event and used as an entrance pass. Limitation
is 2000 pcs. 1700 pcs of these were given to VIPs. Thanks
to Otto Schreiber and Rainer Fitz for the information and
picture.
- German FIVB Beach Volleyball special. On the weekend
of 25 to 29-JUN, the Swatch-FIVB
Beach
Volleyball World Tour stopped in Berlin, Germany. A nice Swatch
The Club event organized by Swatch The Club Germany took place in
Berlin. To commemorate the event, a special
packaging of the Skin Chrono Skyball
(SUYK 107), limited and numbered to 111 pcs, was released. Update:
Here
is a report about the event by Nikolai Kuttler. Thanks
to Robert Bienia for the information and pictures.
- London Swatch Exhibition. Rob Versteeg (squiggly)
reports: "The Design
Museum in London (by Tower Bridge) announces the "20 Years of
Swatch Exhibition". This exhibition is running for three months,
from the 15th July through the 15th October 2003 at the Design Museum in
London - located at 28 Shad Thames, London. The exposition includes the
first Swatch watches ever produced in 1983 and highlighting Art Specials
designed by Keith Haring, Pedro
Almodovar and many other legendary artists." As I could not find
anything about the exposition on the website of the museum (the Peter
Saville exhibition is probably great!), I got the following info from
the museum: "We do have a very small Swatch installation in the Museum
at the moment but it is not featured on our web site as it is only
one
cabinet. Unfortunately we do not have a catalogue or any other
literature about it." So this exhibition alone is probably not
worth a visit to London. Here
is some information on the official swatch website. If you want to
see a real Swatch Museum, try the World
Museum near Milano, Italy. Thanks to
Philippe Danjean for the information.
- Montreux Dream Night club event. Here is a nice report
by Christine Tanner from the Montreux Dream Night Swatch The Club event
which took place on 10-JUL: "On Thursday July 10
Swatch the club International organized a Montreux Dream Night for
Swatch the Club members. Around 200 Swatch members, Swatch employees,
press people and Swatch retailer where invited to Montreux. We met for
an apéro at the Hotel Majestic Suisse on the terrace with a beautiful
view on the lake of Geneva. The new fall/winter collection was
presented and everybody received a Swatch from the new collection,
called Vinyl Hour (SUDB
108; the special loop around the strap was sent to collectors a few
weeks after the event!). Later we had a fabulous buffet in the same
hotel: Lots of fine wines, canapés, amuse bouches, sandwiches, fruits
and more. On the terrace Swatch made a lucky draw for a really
special Swatch. The Montreux 2003 Swatch limited to 300 pieces with
the imprint on the strap "for
artist
only" (GN212C). This watch is given to performing artist, by
Claude Nobs, the big chief of the Montreux Jazz festival. Ten of this
rare special have been given to participants of the event. We also
received a concert ticket an had access to the concert of the fabulous
singer and performer Craig David. But the evening begun with the
"little dreams band" a project by Phil Collins, who supports young
artists to realize there dreams. Very early in the morning we went
home very happy with music in the ears." Here
are a few very nice pictures by Christine from this event.
- Locarno Film Festival Special. Here
is a picture of the special swatch for the Locarno
Film Festival 2003. As you can see in the picture, it comes
in a paper sleeve. It is the Genetic
Code Club special (GZ164) with a new strap. Here
is a prototype version of the sleeve and the watch (the prototype sleeve
is cut open and it has an additional loop around the strap). Thanks to Alain Choisy and David Rippmann for the
information and pictures.
- Marseille Beach Volleyball special. On the weekend of
16 to 20-JUL, the Swatch-FIVB
Beach
Volleyball World Tour stopped in Marseille, France. A Swatch
The Club Event took place on that weekend. To commemorate the
event, a special version of the Scuba Access Cut
Shot (SHK104), with a special
loop around the strap, was given to participants. Only 13
special swatches were distributed, so this access variant is very
rare! Participants of the event also received a welcome
package with cloth sea, cap, folder for the press, and T-shirt. Thanks to Roberto Tintori for the information and pictures.
- Taiwanese Valentine special. For the chinese valentine
day on 4-AUG, swatch in Taiwan will release a special
packaging (limited to 520 pcs) of the gent swatch Till
The Butterflies (GE118) and Here
Comes The Drizzle (GB214). Thanks to
Sophia Chang for the information and picture.
- Portuguese Cinema special. A new Swatch gent special Curta-Metragem (GZ181, price is 50
EUR) celebrating the portuguese cinema director Manoel
de
Oliveira (95 years!) will be released in Portugal on 10-JUN.
Manoel de Oliveira is considered as the biggest countenance of the
Portuguese cinema. His films have been recognized in the festivals
of Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Montreal among others. He has
received a lot of rewards, e.g. a special gold lion in the festival of
Venice. The watch is a new design in a special
black
paper
package (size: 26 cm x 14,5 cm). Here
is a picture of the opened packaging. A maxi version (MGZ181) of
the watch also exist, only 60 pcs have been made. Retail price for
the maxi is 160 EUR (ouch! what a shame). Update: A
nice special wood packaging of the
gent swatch, limited and numbered to 750 pcs, is also available. Thanks to Pedro Coelho and Ricardo Rocha for the information
and pictures.
- Old Automatic Prototypes. You have probably seen on ebay
recently quite a few automatic prototypes from the early 90s (Figueiras
and Harajuku).
Here on
David Rippmann's nice website is the full story about these watches,
quite interesting!
- Gold / Pioneer Swatch The Club Event. The traditional
gold / pioneer Swatch The Club event took place on 18/19-JUN in
Switzerland. Here
is the programme of the event. Many pictures
from the event can be found on David Rippmann's nice website. Here
and here
are more pictures from the event. Here
are Peter Rollings pictures from the event. Here
is Nikolai Kuttler's report from the event. Here
is Robert Gough's report from the event.
- Logo variation. Here
is an interesting "swatch" logo variation of the current gent Lost
In The Field (GS113). I would think that such errors are
impossible right now... Thanks to Paulo Jorge
Almeida for the information and picture.
- International Gstaad Event. Here
and here
are pictures from the international club event in Gstaad, Switzerland on
20 to 22-JUN.
- Italian Sotheby's Fall/Winter Collection 2003 launch special. On
2-JUL, the upcoming F/W Collection 2003 was shown to the press at a
special event in Milano, Italy, at Sotheby's. A special
packaging containing the new gent swatch Flaky (GW138) was
released for the event, it is limited and numbered to 300pcs. Here
is a picture of the back. Hereis
a
small report with many pictures from the
launch event. Thanks to Emanuele
Bertodo and Matteo Rossi for the info and pictures.
- Fall / Winter 2003 collection. This time, squiggly is
first: You can see the upcoming Fall/Winter 2003 collection on squiggly's
website. Or you can see most of the collection here
at the small report of the Milano launch event.
- Swatch Fakes. At the height of the swatch craze in the
early 90s, swatch fakes from far east were quite common. It is
quite astonishing that currently, a few copies of swatch watches can be
found on ebay: Amour
Total (GN 196 / SS 01), Crazy
Train (GG 194 / SS 01), Bad
Trip (GB 206 / SS 01). Thanks
to Marc Lenzinger for the information and pictures.
- Montreux Jazz Festival 2003 special. The special
swatch (it comes in a special
sleeve) for the Montreux
Jazz Festival 2003 is designed by Ted
Scapa (born in the Netherlands, lives in Switzerland). On
19-JUN at the Gold Member Club event, Ted Scapa signed
and painted on the sleeve of the watch during an artistic
workshop.
- Lausanne Olympic Museum Anniversary special. To
celebrate the 10th
anniversary of the Olympic
Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, a special gent swatch Musee
Olympique
Lausanne 2003 (GZ182) is now available only at the store of
the Olympic Museum. I don't think that the watch is limited. Thanks to Marc Lenzinger for the information and picture.
- UK Phil Collins event. A Swatch The Club event for the
UK launch of the Phil Collins suitcase took place in the famous (007)
Pinewood Studios near London on 11-MAY. Read all about the event
on Nikolai's
homepage or on Rob's
homepage.
- FIVB Beachvolleyball club events / special. Swatch and
the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) have entered into a
global partnership for the Beach Volleyball World Tour 2003-2004. Swatch
The
Club is offering three events to witness the FIVB
World
Tour 2003: Berlin, Germany (27th June - 29th),
Marseille, France (18th July - 20th), Klagenfurt, Austria (30th July -
3rd Aug). A strictly limited and numbered special packaging of the
Swatch FIVB special Skyball
(SUYK107, a skin chrono, I don't think that the watch is available so
far) will be available in Berlin and probably at the other two events as
well.
- Mystery Park specials. On 24-MAY, the Mystery
Park (a theme park) was opened in Switzerland. Three
different special swatch watches in special packaging have been
released. They are for sale at the first extraterrestrial
swatch
store which is located in the park. The watches are: Kooxtun (synchro.beat, YKS8000C, packaging),
Mixba (access, SKF100, packaging),
Tzaquali(Scuba, SHN105, packaging).
The packaging is similar to the Casino Lugano special and the
Club Wristory special.
Limitation of the watches is unknown. Currently, the watches are
only sold at the park. In the fall, the watches will be available
in all swatch shops in Switzerland. More
information about the swatch watches and the park can be found at
the official swatch page.
- Austria Surf Worldcup special. From 25-APR to 4-MAY,
the Surf Worldcup took place
at the Neusiedler See in Austria. An access special Surf
Worldcup Neusiedler See(SHK102, Chill Factor with a
special strap) has been released for this event. Limitation is
unknown. Thanks to Roberto Tintori for the
information and picture.
- Swiss Collection special packaging. A special
packaging Swiss Collection
(GZS 33, not limited, not numbered) containing five swatch watches will
be released in Switzerland (only!) at the end of May. The
packaging will contain the following five watches: Cheesy
Toast, Typical
Square, Barry,
Highness Of
Zermatt, Champs
de
Züri. There will be an acoustic surprise when opening
the packaging! Price for the box will be 350 Swiss Francs (about
$255 US). Here is a picture
of the actual box. Thanks to Christine
Tanner and Marc Lenzinger for the pictures.
- Cancelled Pablo Picasso swatch. In 1994, swatch had
planned to release a Pablo Picasso swatch called Embraceable.
This
project
was cancelled (for unknown reasons) and only a few dummy swatches
exist. This watch is very very rare. Here
is a picture of the Embraceable dummy, upper
/ lower part of the strap (better
pictures now).
- Lifeball 2003 Charity Auction. A good tradition
continues in the 7th successive year: For this year's lifeball
event (AIDS charity, takes place on 24-MAY) in Vienna, Austria, swatch
auctions a unique(!) and certainly
one-of-a-kind SKIN designed and embellished by the renowned
MISSONI fashion house. The watch will be auctioned online between
15 and 30-MAY. Proceeds will to benefit the Elton John Aids
Foundation. Here
is some more information on the official swatch website.
- Sauber Team specials. The swiss Formula One racing
team Sauber has released two swatch
specials: A gent plastic swatch with a
special strap is available in the package that you get when you join the
team membership (160 Swiss Francs, about $110 US). If you have a
lot of money on your hands (1600 Swiss Francs, about $1100 US), you can
join the Sauber supporters club. You will receive an Irony
Swatch then. Here
are a few good pictures on Marc Lenzinger's excellent web page. Thanks to Michael Kuo for the information and pictures.
- Karlsruhe store opening special. The 23rd German
Swatch store was opened on 17-APR in Karlsruhe, Germany (my old college
town!). To celebrate the opening, a special
packaging (limited and numbered to 100 pcs) was issued. The
special papersleeve can contain any swatch watch from the 2003 spring /
summer collection. The special sold out on the opening day
already.
- Munich Kaleidoscope special. From 11 to 21-APR, the
"Travelling Kaleidoscope" exhibition featuring 100 one-of-a-kind art
works created by an invited list of artists, athletes, VIPs, designers,
...., is shown in Munich, Germany (Galerie
für
Zeitgenössische Kunst Andreas Baumgartl, Platzl 4a, Mon to Sun, 12
to 19h). The exhibition was previously shown at the Athens
Kaleidoscope
event in JUN-2002. To celebrate the opening of the
exhibition on 11-APR, a VIP party took place on the 10th. A
special Munich Kaleidoscope packaging
(GK392-1, limited to 450 pcs, not numbered) of the olympic gent Kranaos
(GK392) was given away at the VIP party (250 pcs). Here
is a picture of the front of the box, and here
is a picture of the back. The remaining 200 pcs were sold limited
at a Swatch The Club Germany event on the 11th. Former olympic
champion Carl Lewis was present at the Swatch Store Munich to sign
the special. A very nice event, here
is a small report with a few pictures
from the event! Two german press reports about the
opening of the exhibition can be found at the Süddeutsche
Zeitung and the Münchener
Merkur.
- Italian Melting Pop special. For the Melting Pop
art exhibition at the Palazzo Delle
Papesse in Siena, Italy, a special packaging Melting
Pop limited and numbered to 120 pcs has been released
during a Swatch
The
Club event on 12-APR. The watch
is sealed in plastic with the exhibition catalogue. Here
is a small report with a few pictures about the event. Thanks
to Roberto Quadrini for the information and pictures.
- Swatch Museum opening special / event. On 15-MAR, a
swatcher's dream became reality: The first museum devoted to
swatch watches opened a permanent exhibition near Milano, Italy.
Check out the nice webpage of
the museum for details! To commemorate this event, a nice
special packaging of the Black Sheep Too X-Large was
released, it is limited to 250 pcs.
The special was distributed at an event of Swatch The Club, about 200
collectors from Italy and 50 international collectors
participated. Each collector received a nice
bag with the special and lots of other stuff (sticker, booklet,
pen, ...). A wonderful event (thanks for everything, Fiorenzo!), a
great museum, definitely worth a visit when you are in the area of
Milano. Here
is a detailed report with many pictures from this wonderful
event. You can read a report
about the event on Nikolai's nice webpage.
- Xtreme Verbier access special. For the Xtreme
Verbier skiing contest in Verbier, Switzerland (on 21 to
23-MAR), Swatch has released a special access swatch Xtreme
Verbier (a Vertical Flavour [perfect watch name for this
event!] access with a special strap). Limitation is unknown so
far. If you are able to go to Verbier for this event, I can
absolutely recommend it. It is really breathtaking! A swatch
the club event took place as well! Here
you can find a report by Nikolai Kuttler about the event. Thanks
to Alain Choisy for the information and picture.
- LSG Holding Millenium special. You probably know the Lufthansa Millenium special, a
nice but not too rare (more than 15000 pcs, numbered on the guarantee
paper) special released for the millenium by German air line Lufthansa.
Recently, a much rarer version of this special surfaced, it is called LSG Holding Millenium
special. I think that LSG holding is the catering company owned by
Lufthansa. Here is a picture of
the LSG Holding special (GM714C). The difference to the
Lufthansa Millenium special is the printing on the sleeve, the guarantee
paper is not numbered, and the logo on the
strap does not show the Lufthansa logo but the LSG Holding logo
(of course :-)
- Phil Collins swatch watches. Ex-Genesis singer Phil
Collins has designed two swatch watches. They will be released in
April with proceedings going to charity. See Phil's official
webpage for further details.. Here
is a picture of two Phil Collins swatch watches: Drum
Phil (SUDZ100, X-Large) and a gent called Phil's Greatest
(GZ180). The X-Large doesn't look too bad. Apparently, the
watches will be sold in a special
packaging (like a flight case, the flight case is numbered) also containing a CD, 10 unpublished photos,
and a biography. Price for the special packaging will be 150
Euros, it will be limited to 9999 pcs. The watches will also
be available without the special flight case at normal retail
price. The official
webpage of Swatch also has more information about the watches. Here are the
official press pictures from Swatch. Thanks to Rob Versteeg and Ricardo Menezes
for the information.
- Portuguese Cookie Face special. A very nice special
packaging (closed / opened)
of the Cookie
Face gent swatch (GK386) has just been released in Portugal
by the Oeiras Parque store. It is limited and numbered
to 250 pcs and comes in a beautiful acrylic
display. The watch has been designed by a portuguese artist
called Pedro. A signing event with
Pedro for the release of the special packaging also took place at the
store. Thanks to Pedro Coelho for the info and
pictures.
- Taiwanese Valentine special packagings. The current
valentine swatch Aiming
for
your Heart is sold in Taiwan in a special
packaging with a Jupiter
doll, whose size is approximately 20x20x20cm. This Jupiter
doll has the function of recording voices or sounds. This set is
not sold in any swatch stores; instead, you have to order it in
"7-Eleven" convenience stores. Limitation is 2000 pcs. Here
is a funny ad picture for the special. Another gift in addition to
the valentine swatch was available at official Taiwan swatch
stores: A nice scarf (available in
four different colour variations). Thanks
to Sophia Chang and Russell Wu for the information and pictures.
- Less and more expensive Maxi swatches. The price for
Maxi swatches will double: from 75 Euro to 150 Euro (~$162 US)
:-(( Also, there will be only one maxi swatch in each collection
in the future. Thanks to Emanuele
Bertodo for the info.
- Spiga/Vendôme Valentine special. The new Spiga store
in Milano, Italy is selling a nice gent Valentine special called Take Your Heart (GE113P).
Here is a picture of the
packaging. No idea about the limitation. The watch is
available also at the Vendôme store in Paris but without the nice golden
frame packaging. The nice golden frame packaging is the standard
watch packaging for the Spiga store. A special event took place in
Milan at the Spiga Store on 13-FEB (5.30pm to 7.30pm) for the launch of
the Spiga Valentine special. Here are some comments by Emanuele
about the event: "a small "aperitivo" with free drinks
and small food for a little group of collectos from Milano's
area... They were selling a special verison of Lulubella, with a
long red band and lot of hearts all around...but it was an idea of the
store more than a real special watch." At the
Vendôme store in Paris, a special reception for collectors and press was
held on valentine's day at lunch time where nice food and wine were
offered. Only 40 pieces of the valentine special were sold (in
minutes) together with a special feather
with pearls and a nice bracelet
with exactly the same imprint as the watch. Thanks
to Arnaud Perche, Philippe Danjean, Emanuele
Bertodo and Andrea Marco Faggioli for the information, pictures,
and update.
- Lucky You french special packaging. The gent Lucky
You (GS111) from the new collection is available in France
in a special packaging (similar to the Wouaf packaging from last year).
Here is a picture of the opened
packaging. No idea about the limitation. Thanks to
Thomas Sonneville for the pictures and to Sascha (BonZai) for the
information.
- German Swatch "Movienight of Extreme Sports" special. In
January and February 2003, the Swatch
Movienight
of Extreme Sports will be shown in several cinemas across
Germany. For this occasion, a limited
special packaging (containing a Swatch Movienight
of Extreme Sports [ref.no. SKK103OAD,
a Clearance access watch with a new strap] with one day ticket
for the Sölden (Austria) skiing area and one DVD; 999
pcs) will be sold in the cinemas participating at the screening of
the Swatch Movienight of Extreme Sports. Here
is a picture of the opened packaging. Price will be 80 Euro.
- Greece Alpha Bank special. A new Swatch watch has been
launched in Greece with the co-operation of Swatch and Alpha
Bank. It has been designed by Greek designers and it can only be
purchased by owners of the "Athens 2004 Visa" credit card, issued by
Alpha Bank (each cardholder can purchased no more than 2 watches). The watch represents black figures of athletes
and it comes in a nice special packaging. The watch is not
numbered. Thanks to Stavros Nikolaidis for the
information and picture.
- Thailand treasure hunt special. A special set of
swatch watches and other goodies was available in a joint promotion
between Swatch and Djuice (a mobile phone company in Thailand). It was
part of a treasure hunt where 1000 swatches were distributed around
Bangkok (and possibly Pattaya). Those swatches were not for sale
but to be found by the treasure hunters. There were 3 designs, thus 333
pcs each. Interestingly, each has a new code and extra loop: Batsknight
(GK331C), Swatch Kiss (GN181C), Love Bite (GN176C).
The most complete set consists of: a pouch, a bandana, a
nametag/badge, a bottle with sand + message, a treasure map and 3
swatches. The pouch, bandana, badge and map were given to all
participants but the bottle is only for the VIPs and their names are
printed on the bottle. Here
is a picture of the VIP set. Very nice and very rare!
- Taiwanese dealer's launch special. On 13-JAN, a special
packaging containing the gent Jeu
dEnfant (GL113) has been distributed in Taiwan for the
launch of the new spring / summer 2003 swatch collection. Here is
some more information by Sophia Chang from Taiwan: "It
is rumored that it is a DIY product by Swatch Taiwan branch employees.
They put the swatch in a
transparent bowl and put some real candies inside then fix them
with jelly type wax (more soft then usual). Package with a paper box
and two stamps inside the open end and the up-side".
Limitation is around 150 to 200 pcs. Thanks to Sophia
Chang and Ellis Tang for the information and pictures.
- Frankfurt Airport mini special. A new swatch store was
opened recently at the Frankfurt airport. To commemorate the
opening, a special luggage tag was
given away with every watch purchased. Here
is a picture of the back of the luggage tag. Note that a strap
looking like a swatch watch strap (but it is not an original swatch
watch strap) is used to affix the luggage tag to the suitcase.
Limitation is unknown but not very high. Finally, something
different! (not a tin!). Thanks to "dee" for the
pictures
Andreas
Wiethoff