Swatch
Swiss watch manufacturer founded in 1982.The name comes from the contraction of “Swiss watch.” The first Swatch was designed to combat the Japanese digital invasion of the watch market. In the early years of the Japanese attack, the Swiss watch industry was literally overwhelmed by the competition from the East, which replaced traditional watch mechanisms with an electronic quartz crystal — the reliability was excellent and the prices unbelievably low. Switzerland’s watch production (96 million watches in 1974) made by more than 1,600 manufacturers rapidly halved. In 1981 the Swiss watch’s dominance of the world stage dropped from 30% to 9%. Owing to the imminent crisis in the industry, the political, industrial, and financial forces of the country entrusted 900 million Swiss francs to Nicolas Hayek, an expert in rebuilding industries, and Ernest Thomke, to launch a counter-offensive. Under the direction of Hayek, the two biggest firms in the country, SSIH and Asuag, founded the Société Suisse de Microéléctronique et d’Horologerie (SMH). Hayek relied on two engineers — Elmar Mock and Jacques Muller — who have an in-depth knowledge of electronics and plastic materials. The Swatch phenomenon happened very quickly, starting with a collection of 300,000 pieces in 1982. The number of components in the company’s watches is reduced from 90 to 51; the casing is plastic, and the whole thing is enclosed in anti-scratch glass. The result is a shock-resistant, waterproof watch that is cheap to produce, and whose accuracy is guaranteed by a quartz crystal. Above all it is industrially interchangeable in the sense that simply changing the color of the plastic and the design of the face is enough to create a new model. In 1984, Swatch production reached a million pieces and they have now sold more than 150 million watches throughout the world. The fashion for plastic watches has become popular because it is a trend that manages to adapt to changes in people’s lifestyles. The queues in front of Swatch shops and the immensely high prices bid by collectors for the very rare models are a phenomenon of the times. For example, a Kiki Picasso model, of which only 140 were made, was sold at a Zurich auction for 26,000 euros. Since 1992, Swatch has no longer been synonymous with just watches: it has already launched itself into the markets for telephones, answerphones, faxes, lights that you can switch off and on with your watch, personal beepers, and mobile phones. In fact even a small Swatch car has come on the market: it is small, so ideal for parking, and has a hybrid engine, thanks to a joint venture with Mercedes.
&Quad;2002. The Diaphane One was produced in translucent plastic and aluminum with a diamond embedded at the 12 o’clock position. It is the most expensive model that the Swiss company has made.
&Quad;2003, April. Following the public and critical success of the exhibition Melting Pop, curated by Gianluca Marziani, Swatch Italia made the special Melting Pop model in a limited edition of 120 to mark the occasion.
&Quad;2003. In Basel, the new Winter collection inspired by the Dada movement was announced at the world exhibition of jewelry and clocks.