The History and Future of Swatch Watches
Swatch watches are more than two decades old, but their legacy of stylishness and collectible value endures. How did Swatch emerge from the rubble of the Swiss watch making industry in 1983 to rise to the heights of popularity, and how does it maintain its appeal?
First of all, Swatch watches were a last ditch effort by the Swiss to compete against Japanese watch makers after the Japanese domination of the industry in the mid-seventies. The Japanese, with their high tech bent, out-priced and outclassed the Swiss. The Swiss replied with "Delirium" in 1979, which claimed to be the world's slimmest watch, but it was the launch of Swatch only four years later that sealed the deal on the re-entry of Switzerland into the world of high fashion watch making. Swatch came about as a result of the founding of SMH, the Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries. SMH developed Swatch, a small plastic watch that had only half the number of components most watches have and that was sold at half the price of most quality watches in the market. While it may seem as if being undersized, plastic, and cheap would make it less desirable, the exact opposite occurred. The Swiss claimed it possessed the same high quality as other designer watches at a more affordable price, and buyers, particularly young people, started to purchase them in large quantities. The Swatch Group's policy of discontinuing lines of the watch after short periods of time insured that the watches became collectors' items, driving the reputation and sales of the watches even higher. Some claim that Swatch is now the single bestselling wristwatch ever made.
Swatch has continued to pander to a younger audience by staying on top of the latest developments in technology. The Swatch SKIN Chrono was marketed as the thinnest chronograph ever made, while the Swatch Snowpass acts an electronic entry card to a number of ski resorts worldwide. The Swatch Beat appeals to computer lovers young and old by claiming to keep Internet time. Swatch has also partnered with computer corporations to create a watch that reads email and video game corporations to create a watch that downloads game information using wireless communication technology. Swatch's reputation for quality as well as consumer appeal is apparent by the fact that it was chosen as the official timekeeper of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for the Swatch Group and the sort of watch designs and functions that will become available to consumers.