Time Vibe presents
Swatch – The Watch That Saved Swiss Watchmaking Since 1983
Born from a crisis, built from 51 parts, and turned into a global icon that proved a Swiss watch doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
n the late 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was collapsing. Cheap Japanese quartz watches had flooded the market, and the country’s biggest watchmakers were heading for liquidation. Management consultant Nicolas Hayek was brought in by Swiss banks to wind things down — instead, he proposed a merger and a completely new kind of watch. At ETA SA, CEO Ernst Thomke and engineers Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller had already spent fifteen months developing something radical: a single-piece plastic case, welded shut by ultrasound, with the movement built directly into the case back. It used just 51 parts where a conventional watch needed 91, and it was assembled entirely by robots on a fully automated line — the first Swiss watch ever made that way. Production cost: under ten Swiss francs. On March 1, 1983, the first twelve Swatch models were introduced in Zurich, priced between 39.90 and 49.90 CHF.
The name was a contraction of “second watch” — the idea being that people own multiple pairs of shoes, jackets and ties, so why not watches too? That philosophy has not changed in over forty years. Swatch still launches around 300 new designs every year, with roughly half retired after six months, and the range has expanded far beyond the original plastic Gent — from ultra-thin Skin Irony references and full-metal Irony chronographs to 47 mm Big Bold statements, the Sistem51 mechanical movement, bio-sourced materials, and collaborations with Omega and Blancpain that had people queuing around the block. What connects all of them is the same founding idea: a real Swiss watch, built to be worn, designed to be personal, and priced so you never have to think twice.
Below is our current Swatch collection at Time Vibe. Browse by collection, or use the links below to jump to what you are looking for.

