Swatch
The plastic watch that saved the Swiss watch industry.
When cheap quartz watches from Japan and Hong Kong took over the market at the end of the 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was threatened. Engineers at ETA developed a watch with very few parts that could be made entirely by machine.
Swatch was launched in 1983. By changing pattern and colour every season, a cheap watch became something people collected.
Materials: Plastic, quartz movement
Manufacture: The movement is fixed directly into the case; the back is ultrasonically welded and cannot be opened.
Few parts: around fifty, far fewer than in an ordinary watch.
The case and strap in brightly coloured plastic.
A new design every season – the watch became a fashion item.
The engineers Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller reduced the number of parts to 51, considerably fewer than in an ordinary watch. The movement sits directly in the plastic case, which is ultrasonically welded together and cannot be opened; the battery is changed through a cover in the case back.
The Swatch paid its way and saved jobs in a watch industry that was losing its market to cheap quartz watches from Asia.
A one-piece plastic case with no screws, a plastic strap attached directly to the case and often printed patterns on the dial and strap.
Swatch has issued artist watches, including some by Keith Haring, and special series that are collected. The watch’s name and code are on the case back and on the packaging.