The Top Chrono Swatch

In the financial columns of the Neuchatel Express dated 14th of October 1989, the author disclosed that Swatch was working in great secrecy on a chronograph (stop-watch), to be launched in 1990. As it turned out, the Swatch stop-watch was released on 20th of May 1990. At the time, all manufacturers of chronographs were having serious difficulties in keeping up with heavy demand. Clearly, models manufactured by Swatch have little in common with the traditional Swiss mechanical stop-watches,a specialty which foreign competitors - restricted to electronics for such complicated pieces - have so far been unable to replicate reliably.

The attraction of the mechanical stop-watch remains such that, at the end of the 80's -and this is still the case at the time of writing - customers are fighting over the best-known models, prepared to pay average prices ranging between 2'000 and 15'000 Swiss francs to acquire even a steel example. For prestigious brands and complicated models, prices may go as high as 50'000 francs,to say nothing of the auctions of classical Rolex or Patek Philippe models, where figures have been known to exceed 200'000 francs! In October 1989, the author wrote that the launching price to the public would be 80 francs. At the end of May 1990, the Chronograph - as it is now referred to - was released on the Swiss market at a price of 100 francs.
The press release drafted in Zurich read: "Quality at a provocative price, a sensational novelty", and indeed this proved to be no exaggeration; the new stop-watch was all that it was said to be! There was however one small hiccup at the start, which came as something of a surprise to the industry analysts: Swatch marketers were talking of a "chronometer", that is to say a stop-watch which had undergone the official Swiss testing and would therefore come with an official ad hoc certificate, stamped with the Swiss cross - a sort of passport of precision. This seemed to go way beyond what had been described as "quality at a provocative price". Unfortunately, this was just too good to be true,and Swatch was soon requesting journalists to make the necessary amendments to their communiques, asking that the word "chronometer" be replaced with that of "chronograph", more appropriate in the circumstances. Nevertheless, even without its official certificate, this intricate and complex stopwatch, which enables the user to measure hours, minutes and intermediary times to the second, promised to be a sure success in the market place and to become serious competition for such brands as Casio and Seiko, the traditional Japanese manufacturers in the field.

A rush was forecast on the 150 hand-picked sales' points in Switzerland, where limited quantities of the model were initially available. True to expectations, the stop-watches disappeared with lightning speed. In 1991, at the opening of the European watchmaking and jewelry fair in Basel, a number of watchmakers - themselves collectors - went on the pre-opening day in an attempt to obtain from retailer-exhibitors models of the sought after Chronograph! Customers walking into the shop of a Swatch retailer, casually asking for a "Chrono", were usually greeted with a polite but knowing smile-a shake of the head being the only gesture needed to convey the answer.

During the annual press conference held in Bern by SMH in June 1991, Nicolas Hayek promised that markets would be well supplied, that from 120,000 "Chronos" would be produced monthly and the output would rapidly increase to 180,000 units, or thereabouts. Hayek may well have kept his word, although this had little effect on the average buyer's chances of obtaining one. In Geneva's Grand Passage, an entire batch of between 100 to 200 Chronographs was sold in under an hour, even though the price being asked on the 'grey' market was 300 Swiss francs and not the usual 100-and this example is only one of many! At the Swatch auction organized by Christie's in Zurich on 15th of June 1991, initial estimates for the Swatch "Chrono" were in the vicinity of 250 francs. But more often than not, prices paid were higher; 350, 450, 600 and 800 francs (for the model White Horses SCW 100).
Six variants of the first "chronos", each with a different design, could be supplied: the Skipper SCN 100, Sand Storm SCB 104, Black Friday SCB 100, Skate Bike SCB 105, Signal Flag SCN 101 and White Horses SCW 100. For the 1991 collection, three new models were launched with brightly coloured designs: Neo Wave SCJ 100, Flash Arrow SCL 100 and Navy Berry SCR 100, completed by the more classical models: Goldfinger SCM 100, with a genuine leather strap and Swatch's famous crenellated fastening (in brown). Silver Star SCN 102, with genuine leather strap (in blue). Skipper SCN 100, with genuine leather strap/black case on lighter blue strap. Black Friday ,the classical Swatch which comes in black - as indicated by its name - with figures, hands and counters in white.
The same can be said of the Chronograph as of the very first Swatch-it is a triumph of technology and industrial prowess; despite using motors to replace the classical mechanical movement,the success of the project is a tribute to the highly skilled and tenacious engineers who worked on the concept.