The bids increase

The decorative element - which has already been described - is not the only factor which may explain the success of the Swatch as a collector's item and the Swatch auctions which have been held recently. There is another phenomenon. Indeed, had it not been for the enthusiasm generated by the auctioning of contemporary wrist watches (prior to the Swatch) and the astonishing prices reached by some of these intricate marvels of the art of watchmaking, and the few companies which in the early seventies decided to specialize in the sale of antique watches, there would never have been the necessary ingredient to spark off the keen interest displayed by merchant-collectors for Swatches today.

Of course, there has always been a small circle of connoisseurs fascinated by the art of watchmaking; but their numbers are much more restricted than in other artistic sectors such as furniture, where amateurs abound. Indeed, the "industrialists" of the Roskopf watch, who manufactured thousands of novel and fantasy pieces during approximately a century - up until the seventies in fact - at prices comparable to those of Swatches, didn't manage to generate much interest in their products at all. Such was also the case of the colorful and oversized "go-go watches" which appeared on the market towards the end of the sixties. These models never became collectors' items.

Accordingly, it was necessary that an "awareness" to collect be stimulated, to which the pioneers of antique watch auctions added a zest of speculation, with the result that today any object which features the slightest originality is already considered a collector's item. Of course, Swatches are full of originality. Furthermore, as Japan and the Far East took to the game with their considerable financial means, collectors were suddenly hit by the Swatch virus. It was not so long ago - a mere five years in fact - when only a very small number of exceptional contemporary objects and rare watches from the 18th and 19th centuries, carrying famous signatures, aroused any interest whatsoever.