Swatch Watch

[VESUVIO]

Any Swatch Watch collectors?

[Altair]

I hope not

I cant stand Swatch, the Starbucks of the watch world. All it does is bring peoples tastes and expectations of a quality product down.

[Welshwatchman]

Does that mean you are not a collector, Altair.

[Altair]

Let's just say I don't mark my calendar when A new swatch store is going to open in town

[DC watchman]

Originally Posted by Altair

I hope not

I cant stand Swatch, the Starbucks of the watch world. All it does is bring peoples tastes and expectations of a quality product down.

A lot of what Swatch has done is positive, i.e. bringing a low cost quality swiss watch to the masses. Let's not also forget they were there with ready cash to buy many of the great brands like Omega who were failing in the 80's.

Not exactly haute' horlogie... but intersting little products nonetheless. Where else can you find a quality watch for the kind of $$$ they ask.

Hell if you use the Starbucks model as your analogy you could say the same thing about brands like Seiko for example.

[Altair]

I agree that Swatch does have positive points, saved some companies from certine doom!

Interesting you would bring up Seiko, I would take any Seiko over any Swatch anyday!!!

How Swiss are swatch anyway? I know Tag watches are not fully made in Switzerland, so are swatch mass produced in China too? hmm google time

[Tools]

Swatch was formed in the 1980's out of the remnants of two greats...The Omega/Tissot watch company, and the Longines/Rado companies (The companies had different names, but those were their products) who were sent bankrupt by the flood of cheap Asian quartz watches..

They were re-organized and started manufacturing the Swatch watch in order to survive......The Swatch is credited with saving these companies from being lost forever....so much so that the company changed their name to The Swatch Company.

Here are some bullets and current products from their web site.

. Breguet, Blancpain and Glashütte-Original hold strong positions at the very top end
. Léon Hatot, Jaquet-Droz, Omega, Longines, Rado and Union hold key positions in the luxury market
. Tissot, ck Calvin Klein, Certina, Mido, Hamilton and Pierre Balmain maintain a strong presence in the mid-range
. Swatch and Flik Flak hold a substantial share of the broad consumer segment
. Endura produces private-label watches

[vukotab]

I always hated Swatch watches,even when I was kid.But I bought this one recenltly,as a birthday gift to my younger sister.
I bought it because it looks a little bit more serious than ordinary Swatch and it`s powered by ETA automatic movement clearly visible trough transparent caseback!And most important thing is that she like it very much!

[puffnmo]

I think that Swatch's are good "training watches" for kids and young teens. They like the colors and different patterns etc., and owning one might put them on the path to watch appreciation! JMO. Larry.

[Perdu]

I am not a collector but I once (...worked at a Holiday Inn) worked with a guy who collected very rare Swatches. There worth a lot of money.

[puffnmo]

I seem to remember reading in one of the Watch magazines about a year ago that one of the current crop of young male stars (Ben Affleck?) has a Swatch obsession.
I wish I could have a Swatch obsession myself. Think of all the money I'd save... Larry.

[CPCC]

I stopped collecting back in highschool.

[Defiancekofb]

When I was young I used to wear Casio watches.

[VESUVIO]

In the early 90's some Swatch Watches were so in demand that people in Europe paid ridiculus amounts for them.

[DSJ]

Swatch was my first Swiss watch. I had it in '86 or '87 when I was in grade 7-8 and after a couple years, don't know what ever happened to it.

[Dan Pierce]

I know Tag watches are not fully made in Switzerland

Got any evidence to back that up?
dP

[Altair]

None whatsoever. I just read that in one of these forums, acording to the original about 50% of Tags are Swiss made. I could be completely wrong though, in which case I do apologise.

[ratae1950]

I like Starbucks coffee.

[JostheBoss]

It was a swatch that carried me all through highschool and university...a total of 11 years service!!! Only had to replace straps and batteries :) It's still running. Then I got a new Swatch for a birthday 2 years ago, The Big Steel Irony, which was similar in weight and dimension to what's on my wrist for its second day now...SS GMT IIc! Amazing jump, but it was the Swatch that I have to thank for giving me the confidence to carry a hammer on my wrist.

I love them.

[Obsession]

I also have one Swatch Irony Chrono ( FOG ) I bought it in 2003 and it still works super and still with box and papers =) I weared it just for few months.

[entropydave]

...yeah, I got an aluminium Swatch irony from about 2002-2003 - and apart from one batt change, it was my watch of daily usage till i bought my Rolex. Its timekeeping is superb - 3 secs a month - I set it when I got my rolex in Nov last year and it is <15 sec from GMT still!
Bought my first Swatch when the company first started (1980s?) - can't find it now but bet if I did it'd still work with a fresh batt. No - a great watch - tough, water resistant and cheap!

[billychildish]

I've had mine for 24 years, I loved 'em! Check out the "Milgauss" hand!!:

[CPTL]

I had a Swatch or two when I was a kid. Everyone did--they were as popular as second base. Now, 20-plus years later and matured into WISness, I'm kinda glad I helped save some great Swiss watchmakers from being crushed by quartz.

[unixdude]

I wouldn't consider myself a collector, but I have 3, all chronographs. I bought my first one on my first trip to Switzerland - it is black plastic, with a black leather band. I bought my second (an irony chrono with a yellow & blue face) on a trip to Boston in 1998 or so, and I just got my 3rd one, a Blustery model, within the last few weeks. (Wife got it for me as a gift at the birth of our first child.)

I can't (yet) afford a Porsche, so I drive a VW. Similarly, I can't (yet) afford a Rolex, so I enjoy Swatches. I expect that will change one day.

[unixdude]

I wouldn't call myself a collector, but I do have three Swatches, all chronographs.

I bought the first one (a black plastic model with a black leather band) on my first trip to Switzerland in 1992 or so.

I bought the second (an Irony model with a yellow/blue face) in 1998 or so, on a trip to Boston with a friend.

I just got my third one, a Blustery model, in the last few weeks. It was a gift from my wife at the birth of our first child.

One day, I expect to be wearing a Rolex. :) If I were to pick one today, it would be a GMT-Master II, Explorer II, Sea-Dweller, Submariner, or Daytona.

[entropydave]

...I quite like those swatches... good and affordable things for my kids to collect! Or me... I am an inveterate collector (no, I don't have Diogenes Syndrome!)

[unixdude]

OK, so I have taken a picture of my watches, and have figured out what they all are. I guess maybe I am a Swatch chrono collector.

- left: YCS406D (purchased in Boston in 1998 for USD130)
- center: SCB109 (purchased in Interlaken, Switzerland on 6 August 1993 for SFR100)
- right: YCS438G (purchased from swatch.com in 2007 for USD140)



PS - sorry about the double post earlier. :(