Hodinkee
Introducing: The New Swatch Bioceramic What If? Collection Imagines An Alternate 1980s At Under $150 (Live Pics)
The original Swatch was round, but what this watch presupposes is…what if it wasn’t?
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Hodinkee
The original Swatch was round, but what this watch presupposes is…what if it wasn’t?
Time+Tide
This week was a bit calmer in regard to new novelties, but a big headline within the watch world was the news that Swatch are suing the Malaysian government after it seized 172 pride-themed watches from stores. Swatch is seeking damages and the return of the watches that are worth US$14,000. The Malaysian authorities said … ContinuedThe post FRIDAY WIND DOWN: Swatch sues Malaysian government for seizing their Pride-themed watches from stores appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Worn & Wound
For the last year, Swatch has existed primarily as the brand that makes and sells the MoonSwatch, their enormous, crossover hit made in partnership with Omega. It’s tough to underestimate the impact of the MoonSwatch on the watch world, mostly because its impact transcends the watch world. Your friends and family who are not part of the hobby, don’t read this site and others like it, and may not even own a watch, are almost certainly aware of the MoonSwatch. They’ve seen an advertisement for it, or have heard about it on the news, or perhaps they’ve stumbled onto the impressive MoonSwatch displays in a Swatch store, only to be told that the watches aren’t actually available to buy. Swatch has recently upped the ante somewhat on the MoonSwatch front by offering extremely limited versions with gold plated seconds hands, and it has me (and others) wondering if the hype for these watches has crested, and longing for Swatch to go back to making really cool Swatches like the ones so many of us grew up with. The truth is, Swatch never stopped making exactly those kinds of watches, but they’ve been somewhat lost in the hysteria for the MoonSwatch. Now, though, comes a series of watches that I think might actually rival the MoonSwatch in terms of enthusiast interest, at least in some quarters. The latest entry in the Swatch Art Journey collection (that has already seen releases this year with watches based on pieces by Roy Lichtenstein, René Magritte, and others) is ...
Time+Tide
Oh, the Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch. Around this time last year, the unveiling of the concept and original collection was a massive moment for the watch space – the ripples of which extended far beyond the niche of watch enthusiasm. Massive queues, a lack of accessibility, while the launch certainly stirred up a lot of … ContinuedThe post Your reactions to the Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch Moonshine – the good, the bad, and the indifferent appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Worn & Wound
Swatch, the brand that is just about everyone’s first watch, celebrated their 40th birthday this week. On March 1, 1983, Swatch unveiled its first collection of plastic cased, battery powered watches, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that it just might have saved the Swiss watch industry. After a long period of dominance in the mass production of watches, quartz watches made by Japanese companies at a massive scale radically changed the watchmaking landscape, putting the traditional mechanical watchmaking industry into something of a tailspin. The massive success of Swatch through the 80s and into the 90s injected cash and enthusiasm into Swiss watchmaking that the industry still benefits from to this day. We write about anniversaries all the time in these pages. As we’re all fond of saying, “Every year is an anniversary year.” But in the coverage of the big Swatch 4-0 that I’ve seen this week, I’ve much more commonly heard it referred to as a “birthday,” and I think that’s important. Anniversaries can be joyous occasions, but the word implies a certain seriousness that isn’t right for Swatch. A birthday is different. It’s fun, there’s cake, and hopefully some color. That’s how I think of Swatch (minus the cake). Swatch and I are just about the same age. I turned 40 in October of last year, and it’s interesting to think about the brand approaching middle age, as I, much to my dismay, seem to be doing as well. Does Swatch also have naggi...
Teddy Baldassarre
It's a common refrain in the watch collector community that chronographs are one of the most popular complications while at the same time being one of the least practical in day-to-day life. Many of the most famous chronograph watches are also equipped with tachymeter scales, and while fans of these watches mostly agree that they look very cool, few of them have ever used the scale with the stopwatch function, and many wouldn't really know how. Nevertheless, the tachymeter on a watch was invented for a utilitarian, practical purpose once upon a time and it's worth briefly exploring those origins and exploring those capabilities. Essentially, a tachymeter (also called a tachometer) is a numerical scale on a watch’s dial or bezel that is used in conjunction with a chronograph seconds hand to measure an object’s speed over a predetermined distance. It is often used to determine miles or kilometers per hour and is thus a common feature of chronograph watches whose design is inspired by automobile racing; we'll showcase several icons of that category in our list below. Unlike divers’ watch bezels, which should rotate in one direction to set dive times, or other types of bezel scales used for calculations and conversions, like the circular slide rule on Breitling’s Navitimer, most of which are bidirectional, a tachymeter scale bezel should be fixed. The numerical scale typically starts around the 6- or 7-second marker on the minute track, and is usually indicated in ...
Quill & Pad
Ask any watchmaker about the Rolex 31 family of calibers and the story will be the same: it has stood the test of time. Ashton Tracy hasn’t met a single watchmaker who doesn’t love working on these workhorse Rolex movements. They are easy to service, keep great time, and stand up to abuse. Put simply: they work. So how does it stand up to big brother, Caliber 3235? Find out right here!
Hodinkee
A plastic watch designed by a sort-of-famous pig. Nope, it's not April 1st.
Deployant
When people come together, brilliant things happen. The same goes for watches, especially watch collaborations between incredible people in their field.
Time+Tide
The British royal family has endured another calamitous year. Prince Andrew cemented his position as a global embarrassment after settling his sex abuse case out of court, Megan and Harry polarised the nation with their self-serving interview on Oprah, and it’s barely a year since Prince Phillip died. As an institution, the monarchy appears increasingly … ContinuedThe post Swatch celebrate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with “How Majestic”, a colour-changing watch appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Brand ambassadors and partnerships are abundant in the watch industry, but the most successful pairings are born from a true tie-in to the timepiece and its functionality. Since 2010, Rafael Nadal has had a strong partnership with Richard Mille. While Nadal is known to sport RM 27 collection pieces during competitive play, the RM 35 … ContinuedThe post Why the new Richard Mille RM 35-03 is the perfect match for Rafael Nadal appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Whether Eternals is bad or good is completely subjective, but I can confirm that Kumail Nanjiani wears a great watch in the film.The post Did you catch the holy trinity watch Kumail Nanjiani wears in Marvel’s Eternals? appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
I do love the idea of a ceramic watch in bold colours like the flashy drama of Hublot or Rado’s latest twist on the Captain Cook. But I’m still waiting for the first budget version of this cool material to try on for size. The new Swatch Big Bold Bioceramic series might present the Swiss … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Swatch Big Bold Bioceramic is an eco-friendly summer watch appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Deployant
We put our Chief Editor's Swatch Big Bold NEXT C-BLUE under the loupe and examine this very affordable watch with an innovation streak in bio-ceramic.
Time+Tide
Let me start by saying that I’ve had quite the week. Summer doesn’t seem to want to end, the T+T Team are working really hard on a few very exciting projects that we’ll be able to announce soon, but that wasn’t all. We were lucky enough to attend the first watch event in real life … ContinuedThe post FRIDAY WIND DOWN: The Rolex that changed its red and blue stripes, catch-ups on Clubhouse and IRL and the collectability of G-Shock appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
What do you get if you cross Disney’s most famous rodent, the work of US pop artist Keith Haring and a Swatch? A lot more than just a Mickey Mouse watch…
Time+Tide
The Swiss maisons are at it again, bringing their entire arsenal of craftsmanship to celebrate the Chinese New Year. As we all know, the Chinese market is huge and a great reason for watch brands to bring out the big guns. By big guns, however, we really mean the opposite here, as tiny instruments and … ContinuedThe post Ox-fresh: Celebrate Chinese New Year with wristworn art from Blancpain to Swatch appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
From a robust profit of CHF748m the year prior, Swatch Group ended 2020 with a net loss of CHF53m – the first in decades for the Swiss watch conglomerate that owns brands like Omega, Longines, and Tissot. This reversal of fortune was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many of its retail stores to close while putting a halt to international travel. On an operating level, Swatch Group eked out a tiny CHF52m profit – compared to CHF1.02 billion the year before. The year’s results were mitigated by an improvement in the second half of 2020, with sales in the second half of the year rose 54.7% compared to the previous six months, as economic activity resumed in Asia with pandemic restrictions lifted, particularly in China, which experience double-digit growth for the full year. And the Swatch Group also had to face a virus of the digital kind in the second half of the year. Reported in information-technology news but not in the mainstream press, the group suffered a cyber attack in September, leading to a mention of “a 10-day production interruption” at Omega in the results announcement. Hit harder than most With jewellery selling better than luxury watches, fellow Swiss rival Richemont was buoyed by its pair of jewellery brands that helped plug the hole caused by its faltering watch division. Although Swatch Group owns American jeweller Harry Winston, the bulk of its revenue is generated by watches and watch components. Net sales fell to CHF5.59 bil...
SJX Watches
Continuing its series of collaborations with noted artists, Swatch has just unveiled the Disney Mickey Mouse x Keith Haring Collection, a quartet of watches inspired by the artist’s take on the iconic mouse. The collection is made up of a pair of 41 mm New Gent models, a smaller 34 mm watch, as well as an oversized, Maxi wall clock shaped like a wristwatch. An artist whose pop art outlived his unfortunately short career, Haring was best known for his graffiti in New York City’s subway stations, often depicting dancing figures or animals in outline. Haring was also a proponent of accessible art, and worked with Swatch in 1986 to create a set of four watches, which debuted alongside Pop Shop, a store in New York’s Soho district that sold affordable products bearing his work. The 1986 Swatch Keith Haring set. Photo – Christie’s Haring died in 1990 at the age of 31, but now, some three decades later, Swatch has rolled out the second Haring collection, conceived together with the artist’s eponymous foundation. The new collection revisits Haring’s earlier work that depicts Mickey Mouse, explaining the collaboration with Disney. The 41 mm Eclectic Mickey Initial thoughts Swatch excels at watches in funky design and bright colours, and the Haring-Mickey Mouse watches personify that. And the fact that the watch incorporate iconic examples of 1980s pop art make them even more interesting, less timekeeper than an affordable means of acquiring a little bit of Haring’...
Jean-Claude Biver and his team bought Hublot 24 years ago. At that time it was a tiny brand, big in Spain, but netting $24-million. But Biver considered that it had reached less than 20% of its potential and could be a mega-brand, with its youthful re-casting of luxury in a more casual, sporty and fun … ContinuedThe post “We thought the world needed a luxury Swatch watch.” Explosive Jean-Claude Biver interview tells the Hublot story like never before appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
After the success of the previous Swatch x 007 collaboration, another tough and colourful watch is back, now exclusively in time for the release of No Time To Die. In his infinite wisdom, Q has tinkered away in his basement and come up with the Swatch x 007 ²Q. Here we have a brash and … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: No Time To Die might be delayed, but the new Swatch x 007 ²Q is available right now appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
SJX Watches
Earlier this year Swatch released the Swatch x 007 collection made up of six watches, each inspired by a James Bond movie from 1962 to 2006, in the lead-up to the premiere of the latest Bond flick, No Time to Die. Then the watchmaker worked with the movie’s design team to imagine a watch suitable for Q, the MI6 gadget chief who outfits Bond in every film, resulting in the ²Q. It was originally launched in March 2020 as a limited edition with red accents – Ben Whishaw as Q in the film will be wearing one – but now the blue version has been unveiled to coincide with the film’s release. But because No Time to Die has been delayed yet again, to April 2021, the watch is going it alone. Initial thoughts Unlike Swatch x 007 watches from earlier in the year that were elaborate in style and colour, the ²Q is pared-back and slightly mechanical in style, but avoids being boring thanks to an open dial and red accents. It is surprisingly interesting to see the insides of a quartz watch, which is not often revealed since mechanical movements are more commonly exposed. The design is simple but executed well. For instance, the red flange slopes downwards to the brushed chapter ring for the hours, adding some depth to the face. At 42 mm in diameter, the ²Q is larger than earlier 007 editions. That also holds true for the price, which at US$220 is also steeper than usual, but still eminently affordable compared to Omega’s 007 Seamaster. Q details Based on the Skin Irony mod...
Deployant
Swatch introduces a new collection “1983” -a contemporary interpretation of an iconic watch design, using bio-sourced materials and innovative technologies.
Deployant
A fun watch by Swatch (is there any other Swatch?), see-through case, semi-transparent straps, with vivid new colors – from electric yellow, neon green, orange fluo and azure blue. This is the Chief Editor’s personal watch – in azure blue, which Swatch calls BLUEINJELLY. He talks about it. Swatch Big Bold Jelly BLUEINJELLY The messageRead More
Time+Tide
Streetwear fans rejoice, Swatch and BAPE (A Bathing Ape for those not in the know) are back with another big and bold collection. As far as #details go, this watch comes fully loaded. Taking up where last year’s collaboration left off, this new collection is a colourful collision of styles. BAPE brings the disruptive and … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: BAPE x Swatch 2020, a Big Bold 47mm statement watch appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
In honor of Father’s Day 2020, Mike and Kaz run through some of their top picks for the ultimate dad watch. You’ll hear options for all stages of fatherhood across a bunch of different price ranges.
SJX Watches
Only just introduced earlier in the year, the Big Bold Jelly is a modern, majorly-upsized take on the Jelly Fish (ref. GZ010) of 1983 that had visible innards, just like the eponymous marine species. Now the jellyfish gets a dose of colour with the Big Bold Jelly Neon. Essentially the same watch as the clear Big Bold Jelly, it is dressed up in bright, neon colours – orange, yellow, green or blue – for a more edgy and lively look. Initial thoughts Swatch watches are popular for their eccentric, recognisable designs – and were wildly popular 30 years ago in their heyday – and the Big Bold Jelly Neon is no different. The watch is indeed big and bold. The translucent plastic case is 47 mm – matched with a translucent strap – and reveals the gears of the quartz movement on the clear dial. And it has the crown at two o’clock, which is pretty unconventional. The particular combination of whimsical quirks rarely exists in other watches, which makes the Big Bold case immediately distinct from afar. The Big Bold Jelly Neon is also the boldest and most vibrant variant of the model to date, thanks to the punctuating accents of colour on the face, which even extend to the lugs and the buckle. They are welcome additions to the “jellyfish” aesthetic, making the watch even more striking than the previous Big Bold Jelly and encapsulate the essence of Swatch – fun, cheerful and eye catching. And the colours also make the watch a good choice for the trendy who are into...
Time+Tide
When I had my great-grandfather’s 1958 Omega Seamaster restored, I was convinced that I’d never wear, or need another watch again. It looked great, performed fantastically, and I had a personal connection to it that just didn’t exist for anything else. But as my interest in watches and time spent researching them grew, it was … ContinuedThe post How the Swatch Casino Royale changed my collecting forever appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
The Swatch Sistem51 collection centres its value proposition around two things the rest of the Swiss watch industry finds very much at odds - technical innovation and affordability. With the new Swatch Sistem51 Petite Seconde, we get both of those things in a classically dressed-up package, with the centre seconds of previous models moved to a … ContinuedThe post INTRODUCING: The Swatch Sistem51 receives an elegance upgrade with the Petite Seconde appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Time+Tide
Good news is about as rare these days as a Hodinkee Limited Edition, especially the cache of their Limited Editions they released at retail this week as a goodwill gesture. But we do have some to make your Friday feel a little less surreal. Two months after the ‘Watch & Act!’ Auction had its glorious … ContinuedThe post FRIDAY WIND DOWN: Feat. Celebrity Death Match, Notorious Robberies and Every Watch Tells A Story returns! appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
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