When Swatch, a leading brand in watches today, was introduced to the world in 1983 it was positioned as “a low cost, high-tech, artistic and emotional – second watch”. Swatch was a technological marvel made out of 51 components compared to the traditional watch, which needed at least 91 parts. The history of Swatch makes quite a fascinating story.
By late 70’s the famous watch making industry of Switzerland was anything but alive. By 1981 Switzerland’s largest watch company SSIH owning the OMEGA and TISSOT brands had gone bankrupt. So was the world’s largest producer of Swiss watch movement ASUAG – owning the Longines and Rado brands. Then came Nicholas Hayek, born and brought up in Lebanon, who became the saviour of the Swiss watch industry. He entered the watch industry and took over SSIH and ASUAG. By 1983, Hayek had already announced his two most famous theories. “If you want your luxury brands to survive, then you must play in all segments of the market. If the watch market needs to grow exponentially, then people must buy more than one watch. For emotional reasons rather than just to read time.” His theories worked wonders.
In the next ten years Swatch sold watches at less than US $ 40 a piece and clearly became the world’s largest selling watch brand. Today too, The Swatch Group is the world’s largest watch making group owning about 25 brands with factories in 156 centres and revenue of over US $ 3.2 billion. Swatch’s timepieces are designed by some 200 young designers drawn from all over the world who operate from Milan (not Switzerland!).
The Indian connection
In 25 years, Swatch designers introduced two watches carrying Indian themes. The first one was introduced in 1994 carrying the ‘Kamasutra’ motif. And the second one introduced in 1997 carried the stylized face of ‘MGR’ under the label *What am I today’. A team of two young ladies – a Britisher Su Huntley and a Canadian designer Donna Muir, designed both the Swatch watches. If you observe the Kamasutra Swatch closely, you’ll see that many of the women look Japanese.
This may be due to the designers’ belief that all Orientals look like the Japanese. The MGR Swatch is one of the most sought after models in India. For the tenth anniversary of Swatch, Nicholas Hayek got somewhat carried away and introduced a limited edition *Platinum Swatch’. Launched in Boston in November 1993 this became the lowest priced Platinum watch in the world. Retailed at US $ 1,200, only 12,000 pieces of this model were made. The Platinum Swatch was introduced to the world in then world’s largest Swatch Gallery in Harvard Square, Boston - the gallery was owned by an Indian, named Raman Handa. Braving Boston’s winter a 1,000 men and women stood in a queue from the previous midnight till Hayek arrived in Handa’s Swatch Gallery.
There are serious Swatch collectors all over the world. They lap up some 10 million Swatch watches a year. The Swatch Club is a remarkable online community for serious collectors to converse with each other and exchange their much-loved possessions. In the 25th year of Swatch, a salute to Hayek is due. Whoever spoke of *the power of one’ may have been right. Hayek single-handedly changed the face of the watch industry in the world.
(This originally appeared in SmartBuy, a supplement of BusinessLine on April 14th, 2008)
By late 70’s the famous watch making industry of Switzerland was anything but alive. By 1981 Switzerland’s largest watch company SSIH owning the OMEGA and TISSOT brands had gone bankrupt. So was the world’s largest producer of Swiss watch movement ASUAG – owning the Longines and Rado brands. Then came Nicholas Hayek, born and brought up in Lebanon, who became the saviour of the Swiss watch industry. He entered the watch industry and took over SSIH and ASUAG. By 1983, Hayek had already announced his two most famous theories. “If you want your luxury brands to survive, then you must play in all segments of the market. If the watch market needs to grow exponentially, then people must buy more than one watch. For emotional reasons rather than just to read time.” His theories worked wonders.
In the next ten years Swatch sold watches at less than US $ 40 a piece and clearly became the world’s largest selling watch brand. Today too, The Swatch Group is the world’s largest watch making group owning about 25 brands with factories in 156 centres and revenue of over US $ 3.2 billion. Swatch’s timepieces are designed by some 200 young designers drawn from all over the world who operate from Milan (not Switzerland!).
The Indian connection
In 25 years, Swatch designers introduced two watches carrying Indian themes. The first one was introduced in 1994 carrying the ‘Kamasutra’ motif. And the second one introduced in 1997 carried the stylized face of ‘MGR’ under the label *What am I today’. A team of two young ladies – a Britisher Su Huntley and a Canadian designer Donna Muir, designed both the Swatch watches. If you observe the Kamasutra Swatch closely, you’ll see that many of the women look Japanese.
This may be due to the designers’ belief that all Orientals look like the Japanese. The MGR Swatch is one of the most sought after models in India. For the tenth anniversary of Swatch, Nicholas Hayek got somewhat carried away and introduced a limited edition *Platinum Swatch’. Launched in Boston in November 1993 this became the lowest priced Platinum watch in the world. Retailed at US $ 1,200, only 12,000 pieces of this model were made. The Platinum Swatch was introduced to the world in then world’s largest Swatch Gallery in Harvard Square, Boston - the gallery was owned by an Indian, named Raman Handa. Braving Boston’s winter a 1,000 men and women stood in a queue from the previous midnight till Hayek arrived in Handa’s Swatch Gallery.
There are serious Swatch collectors all over the world. They lap up some 10 million Swatch watches a year. The Swatch Club is a remarkable online community for serious collectors to converse with each other and exchange their much-loved possessions. In the 25th year of Swatch, a salute to Hayek is due. Whoever spoke of *the power of one’ may have been right. Hayek single-handedly changed the face of the watch industry in the world.
(This originally appeared in SmartBuy, a supplement of BusinessLine on April 14th, 2008)
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