Swatch watch

After having been asked about a Swatch watch a friend bought the other day, I thought I’d have a look at what is currently on offer from Swatch this week. I used to check them every so often, but what with the problems over the past year, I missed out managing it.

I should add here that my views haven’t changed much over the years regarding what Swatch is all about, and the quick look-see at my friends new Sistem51 watch, confirmed my opinion. Because, checking over the watches around, it more or less cements my thinking, that at the end of the day the Swatch philosophy of “Second Watch” is still absolutely what they are all about, despite some of their latest ideas.

The original idea of simplification of manufacture, product and cost and using the cheap medium of quartz power, coupled with snazzy “modern” and often just printed dial interpretations, caught the public’s imagination and managed to appeal to those who wanted a cheap throwaway second watch, but one that could also show off their persona – and still their main attraction.

Their foray into automatic mechanical watches and associated hype, for me, is a departure from their core – I mean a cheap quartz powered second watch, ie: the classic Swatch watch as the ultimate disposable throwaway, with its cheap prices is one thing and a great idea, but a mechanical automatic at around the £200 mark – as a throwaway? I really don’t think so.

So, the models I’ve highlighted here are classic Swatch, practical, affordable and the real Swatch deal to me – snappy design dials, cheap quartz movements allowing all sorts of permutations and looks, sizes, colours and styles and is obviously still the way to go – they sell!

The models I’ve chosen because of their ‘look’ plus their practicality – in that these have my preferred Day & Date indications, for I reckon that’s what’s actually useful – personal choice I know, but it is handy and so practical to know the Time, the Day and the Date, with a quick glance. And of course, these are all cheap – and affordable is a bonus.

The black mirror dial Ligne De Fuite, Quartz

The first one is the GAET Highlands Mix with it’s easy read good contrast Day Date, centre seconds hand with its highly coloured two layer silicon strap, black dial. Plastic cased model 41mm diameter and with just 9.85mm case depth. Quartz powered. 30m Water Resistance and around £60-£70.

The second one is the striking coloured Blue Blend bio-sourced model Day & Date watch. The bio-sourced case, strap and clasp – dimensions of 41mm diameter and 9.85mm depth ideal, a printed metal dial, 30m Water Resistance, again at somewhere around £65.

The third choice is the Ligne De Fuite (line of force) model with it’s mirror black effect dial in a matte white plastic case, gives decent definition, so very readable. White/Orange stiped lines silicon strap, Quartz powered, 30m Water Resistance again. Dimensions 41mm diameter and 9.85 depth.

In fact, all of these have the same sensible dimensions and ideal for almost any wrist. All have the standard Swatch battery hatch on the back, accessed so simply by a simple quarter turn with a small coin and the battery pops out to easily replace, so no special tools needed.

Anyway, that’s my current selection of the more Classic Swatch watches that for me, are the real attraction of what Swatch is, or should be all about. They are affordable, colourful and come with lots of variety. Every day watches that don’t break the bank and that so bizarrely and successfully can reflect whatever the wearer wants their persona to reflect. And when you think about it, there’s not many watches can manage that trick.

But I’ve probably already got my favourite Swatch watch – the Irony Green Wink – I know – silly name – But I Posted it way back whenever – I link it HERE

Nightspeed by Swatch

Each year I tend to have a look around the offerings by the Swatch Group, but concentrating not on their high end portfolio, but rather on the Swatch in-house Brand . This is the one started life back in 1989 with the introduction of 12 new models. The start of a range of watches from Switzerland, produced to counter the mass influx of cheap quartz watches from Asia. Termed Swatch to infer “second watch” at a low competitive price point, a Swiss movement and a true “Made in Switzerland” logo. It was a successful ploy and they have produced millions of successfully selling watches ever since.

Swatch introduce new models often and you can usually guarantee good quality, a good movement and an affordable price. So this year I looked to see what would take my fancy and be my model for this year (it might not be a 2018 build, but one I maybe missed in the past).

This time I’ve gone for a black plastic cased, quartz powered model, called the Nightspeed. I find it to be a very attractive dark toned blue dial within a black case with a black silicon buckle strap. I particularly like this strap as it’s very, very flexible, has a nice mat black finish and the Swatch (through) buckle fitting.

Quick change battery hatch – with battery type inscribed on back.

The dial numerals are in white with two different font sizes, the 12, 4 and 8 being larger. There are three sub-dials with running seconds at 6, and the two at 2 and 10 function as stop-watch counters. There is also a date window at 6 with white against black and most of the dial features are luminous. There is a black stop-watch seconds centre sweep hand and the semi skeleton hour and minute hands have white tipped pointers.
There is a finely marked dial bezel featuring a Km/h marker ring and there are two black pushers on the right, either side of the centre crown for timing functions and setting the watch.

Light weight plastic body – easy on the wrist. Note the date window @6.

Whilst the colour scheme is predominantly black and blue, the white features within the dial make this an easy watch to read. Overall it is both understated and yet very attractive.

The dimensions are 42 mm diameter and just over 13 mm depth including the slightly domed crystal, so a nicely sized watch and being plastic cased is very light on the wrist.
According to the data on the Seller’s website, the Water Resistance is quoted as 30m, though with the Swatch quick change battery “hatch” as opposed to a full screw back, I’d be cautious it testing how good that may be!

One neat point to note is the battery type (394) is inscribed along-side the hatch, which is very useful.

The Swatch 4 jewel Quartz movements, I’ve found and certainly the ones I own are both accurate and reliable . . . . which when put together with the general attributes of this particular model, I am certain will be a great model to own and at around £80 represents a good buy.

Just a note – if you are looking for a watch to match colours with clothing, it is a fact that generally the Swatch range give you a great choice, as they do offer an extraordinary number of models in all sorts of colour options. Just a thought for Christmas. . . .

Quartz – todays’ bargain.

Whilst as a collector I have a preference for mechanical watches (to see a watch movement in operation I find utterly fascinating) I have to admit that as many other folks I tend to wear a Quartz digital watch for everyday use. And for good reason I suppose as apart from accuracy, they are much more resilient when it comes to physical abuse of modern living such as sports like swimming or golf etc.

But the range of cheap Quartz watches is nothing short of amazing – here are some –

Montage02 — Cheap as chips - quartz selection

Just a selection of Quartz watches that demonstrate the fabulous choice of amazingly low priced models available today in the market.

Note that in the image I have highlighted Casio who are in the forefront of this extraordinary treasure trove of affordable watches. I make no excuse for that as they and others offer such a wide variety of different styles and features and at such incredible prices.
In this montage here I’ve also included a couple from Sekonda, the British manufacturer who topped the UK sales for brand in 1998 and still up there and also there’s a Swatch watch in there who produce some wonderful “cult” design watches at affordable prices too.
Probably it’s these manufacturers we have to thank for giving and that’s almost the right word – giving us the opportunity to own, what is an often taken for granted marvel of miniature electronics. There is no doubt that the Quartz revolution has given us so much.

There are of course many more around but just scratching the surface it is evident that the days of the cheap watch are very much with us – and I don’t mean cheap as poor – very much to the contrary. These watches are tremendous value, they do what they say on the box, their reliability is amazing and the range is unreal – there must be virtually something for everyone.

For a plain tell the time watch these are around £10 – £25 and with day date window £20 – £30. For chronograph functions £15 – £40 is possible and you can find multi-functions £40 – £90. Of course the sky’s the limit but it is amazing what you can get for not a lot of money.

So often when considering a new watch we end up setting out sites on that “expensive” new watch, whether it be a “mid range” or indeed a “high end” model, we each cut our cloth to suit. However it is very evident and no more so when I seek a pre-owned vintage or high end mechanical classic watch that many folk simply don’t look after their watches at all! Slung in a drawer somewhere along with keys, pens, paper clips and goodness knows what else, they often end up with badly scratched cases (in many instances these were gold for goodness sake), scratched glass, hands knocked off and often with dampness into the dial and movements – it’s a wonder they bought a decent watch in the first place for all the care they’ve taken over them.

So this wonderful diversity of really low priced watches should be an absolute winner – if they get scratched or damaged – who cares? – at these prices simply get another one.

And one thing is absolutely certain – Quartz – is the bargain of today and there’s an awful lot of them!