Swatch

A second watch for an industry in crisis

By the late 1970s cheap electronic watches, above all from Japan, had pushed the Swiss groups SSIH and ASUAG towards liquidation in the quartz crisis. The plan Nicolas G. Hayek drew up for them in 1983 had two parts: merge the two companies, and launch a low-cost, high-tech Swiss “second watch”, the Swatch.^{1, 2, 4, 6}

The design cut cost by cutting parts: 51 components, assembled on automated lines around a Swiss-made movement, so that a plastic quartz watch could carry the Swiss Made label at a low price.^1, 6

In 1985 SMH set up Swatch Ltd in Biel/Bienne to run the brand, with production managed by ETA in Grenchen, two towns at the foot of the Jura. In 2019 Swatch moved into a new timber headquarters in Biel designed by Shigeru Ban, beside Omega’s; the Cité du Temps between them houses the Omega Museum and Planet Swatch.^1, 7

Working with the group’s other houses

In 2013 Swatch brought out Sistem51, which the Swatch Group says is the only self-winding mechanical movement with fully automated assembly. In 2022 Swatch and Omega launched the Bioceramic MoonSwatch, after the Speedmaster, and in 2023 a Scuba Fifty Fathoms collection drew on Blancpain’s diving watch.¹

Where Swatch leads

• Made by · , CompanyETA

  ETA has managed Swatch production in Grenchen since 1985.^1, 3

• Made · , ObjectThe original Swatch

  Made by ETA in Grenchen and sold under the Swatch name from 1983.^1, 10

• Owned by · , GroupThe Swatch Group

  The Swatch was launched in 1983 as part of the rescue of ASUAG and SSIH, and gave the group its later name.^1, 2

• Based in · , PlaceThe Jura Arc

  Swatch is run from Biel/Bienne and its watches are made by ETA in Grenchen.¹

• Worked with · , CompanyBlancpain

  Swatch’s Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms collection of 2023 drew on Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms diving watch.¹

• Worked with · , CompanyOmega

  The Bioceramic MoonSwatch of 2022, modelled on the Speedmaster, was made by Swatch with Omega.^1, 9

• Part of · , HistoryCrisis, consolidation and the groups

  The cheap plastic quartz watch that carried the recovery.^1, 11

• Part of · , HistoryThe electric and quartz revolution

  The plastic quartz Swatch went on sale in 1983.^1, 12

• Part of · , TraditionOrigin labels

  The Swatch Group describes the Swatch as a low-cost watch with a Swiss Made movement, assembled on automated lines in Switzerland.¹

• See also · , EventThe quartz crisis

  The crisis the Swatch was designed to answer in 1983.^1, 6

Elsewhere in Watch Vault

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  Stories that name Swatch, newest first (opens in a new tab), in Watch Vault Media.