Swatch ORIGINALS Watches
About Swatch Watches
Swatch began in the early 1980s under the leadership of the CEO of
ETA SA, Ernst Thomke. The brand started with only a small team of
engineers, led by Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller. Thomke also hired
a marketing consultant, Franz Sprecher, to give the project an
outsiders consideration. The project is a timepiece in plastic, that
would offer a fashionable look too.
The original plan for Swatch was to re-capture the entry-level
market share that had been lost by Swiss manufacturers during the
quartz crisis. They were looking to regain the market back from
Japanese companies that had grown through the ’60s and ’70s, such
as Seiko and Citizen. They also aimed to re-popularize the analogue
watch, at a time that digital pieces were becoming more and more
popular themselves.
Following the success of the brand, in 1985, a Lebanese
entrepreneur, Nicolas G. Hayek, alongside a group of Swiss
investors, took over the majority shareholding of Swatch. This newly
consolidated group was named Societe Suisse de Microelectronique
et d’Horologerie, or SMH. Hayek became the chairman of the board
of directors, and CEO in 1986, and later went on to rename the
company to Swatch Group, the company we know today.
This was a fantastic combination for the brand, combining marketing
and manufacturing expertise to bring Switzerland back in to the
market as a major player in the world of watches. Swatch developed
and used innovative synthetic materials for the watch-cases, as well
as a new ultra-sonic welding process and assembly technology. This
is a brand that have not stopped changing and innovating to
improve their product, and still remain one of the most popular, and
well known brands around the world.
