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he Swatch was born from adversity, with the Swiss economy reeling as an ever-more expensive franc priced the entire nation out of mass-produced goods. Electronic quartz watch movements were taking hold at the end of the 1970s, with ETA introducing Europe’s first mass-produced quartz movement in 1979. But it was another product introduced that year that presaged the Swatch: The ultra-thin Delirium. This prestigious and rare watch featured a movement integrated into the case back, and Ebauches SA head Ernst Thomke recognized that this radical design could be applied to a mass-produced watch as well.
Engineer Elmar Mock was investigating plastic insulators for electronics and realized that the same injection molding technology could be used to create a watch case. Mock, along with colleague Jacques Müller, set down a sketch that would become the Swatch. The design was exactly what Thomke was looking for, and a small group quickly developed the design and, critically, automated mass production for this radical new watch.
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- This article, published in November 1982, was the first in Europa Star to detail the radical new Swatch.
- ©Europa Star Archives
The very earliest mention of the Swatch came in Trade Bulletin, issue 955, in July of 1982. A simple list of newly-registered brand names includes “Swatch,” registered by ETA S.A. of Grenchen. By this point, Ebauches SA was preparing to test-launch the affordable plastic watch in Texas in the fall. Though it was rejected by most traditional watch retailers, the Swatch was affordable enough that Ebauches SA could launch it through mass-market channels. This is one reason it was launched with a new brand rather than leveraging one of the many existing Swiss names.
A more thorough report appeared in the final 1982 edition of Europa Star for both Europe and Asia, as well as the Trade Bulletin. It is a fairly technical description of the watch, noting the similarity of the integrated movement to the Delirium and detailing the novel technology used to construct the watch. It also includes a black and white photograph showing a few of the original Swatch styles.
Test-market advertising emphasized the wide range of styles as well as the rugged nature of the Swatch. But Ebauches SA was delighted when early adopters purchased a second watch in a different color, and even a third. Marketing guru Franz Sprecher seized on this opportunity, and the company regularly introduced new colours and styles and encouraged Swatch collectors. This remains the foundation of Swatch marketing 40 years later.
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- Competitive offerings from Mondaine and Fortis quickly came to market in 1983.
- ©Europa Star Archives
The Swatch was officially introduced by Ernst Thomke at a press conference on March 1, 1983. Although he emphasized Sprecher’s “second watch” idea, contemporary coverage was more focused on competition from Europe and Japan. Mondaine’s M-Watch and Fortis’ ID-Watch gave shoppers at retailers Migros and Inter Discount an affordable alternative. And, as feared, Asian-made knock-offs and look-alikes quickly flooded the world market.
But Swatch managed to stay ahead of the competition by continually introducing new styles and contemporary designs. Trade Bulletin notes that about 400,000 examples were sold in the first half-year on the market, a remarkable success considering the watch was only available in Switzerland, Great Britain, and the United States. The Swatch “went viral” with trend-setters making the colorful watch a must-have fashion accessory.
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- Swatch continued to introduce new styles, including the “Swatch Tennis” designs which appeared in Europa Star later in 1983.
- ©Europa Star Archives
The Swatch was selected as one of 12 “Products of the Year” for 1984 by Fortune magazine in the United States, appearing alongside the American Express Platinum Card and Apple Macintosh. Sales soared internationally as well, thanks to heavy advertising and consumer enthusiasm. One notable marketing stunt was the placement of a 158 meter tall Swatch in Frankfurt, which earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records. Over 3.5 million examples were sold around the world in 1984.
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- The Swatch was an international hit, and Swatch heavily marketed the product.
- ©Europa Star Archives
While exploring the Europa Star archives, I asked an expert to recall the “Swatch mania” of the 1980s. My wife, like many American teenagers, distinctly remembers seeing the first Swatch watches on wrists and in advertisements. Cheap enough to be attainable yet exclusive enough to be cool, the Swatch was a must-have fashion accessory. And with new product lines, designs, and colors continually introduced, demand kept growing. She remains a Swatch loyalist to this day, and particularly appreciates the company’s annual special editions and exclusive models for destinations around the world.
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- Swatch continued to innovate, bringing new designs to market regularly.
- ©Europa Star Archives
The Swatch provided a much-needed cash infusion for the Swiss watch industry, but it was more important than that. In shrugging off copy-cats and competitors, it demonstrated that consumers would seek out a genuine product. In this way, the Swatch is like the Rolex Submariner or Audemars Piguet Royal Oak: much copied but always in demand. It also kick-started a hobby of watch collecting among many of today’s consumers. Who among us does not have at least one Swatch?
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- Swatch celebrated the sale of 100 million examples in 1992.
- ©Europa Star Archives
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- For more on the history of Swatch, see “Swatch, Constantly Breaking the Mould” by Fabrice Eschmann in Europa Star #342, 2017.
- ©Europa Star Archives
