We all know Swatch for their everyday Swiss-made watches, but the ever-playful brand is about to challenge the status quo again — their own — with a new collection that reimagines what a “classic” Swatch watch can look like. What if the first Swatch watch wasn’t round, but square? That’s a style, and story, that the BIOCERAMIC WHAT IF? Collection aims to tell.
Picture this: we’re going back in time to 1982, when the Swatch founders were still deciding on the ideal look of their debut timepiece. Round or square…? You’d think the possibilities would be endless, except, back then, they felt that they were lacking the technology and materials to create the fine lines, tight edges and strong straps necessary for a square watch. Not today though.
Four decades later, the brand is debuting their new BIOCERAMIC WHAT IF? Collection, which plays out an alternative reality — what if Swatch was started with the very square prototype that proved so attractive to the founders all these years ago?
The result is four beautiful square designs, each with a retro vibe and edge-to-edge glass dial that flaunts beloved vintage aesthetics, yet enabled with modern materials and technology.
In particular, the collection features Swatch’s breakthrough technology, their BIOCERAMIC material, which combines ceramic powder with bio-sourced materials for a watch with extremely strong and durable properties. This has allowed Swatch to overcome the previous challenges of creating a square watch, giving us these contemporary iterations.
The four timepieces in the collection sees beautiful square edges and a 33mm x 33mm case, each fitted with a BIOCERAMIC case, crown, and buckle. Two design details stand out as well.
First, we’ve got a bio-sourced edge-to-edge glass that spans across the watch face, providing a stunning side view of the dial; this modern fabrication is a first for Swatch. Another first would be each watch’s bio-sourced strap, designed to sit flush and comfortably on the wrist, a subtle feature that should please both avid watch collectors and casual fashion enthusiasts alike — and one that you should definitely try on in-store to feel the difference.
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The design of each watch is also particularly striking. As mentioned, the retro vibes are certainly strong with this one, in more ways than one. The square dial is kept functional and minimalist, though with glow-in-the-dark hands and a keen detail of the day-date calendar window at the 3 o’clock mark. As for the cases, they are available in muted, matte gray, green, beige and black tones inspired by the very first Swatch models.
Each dial even differs based on your colour pick — the black watch sees clean lines replacing numerals, though the gray version takes on roman numerals that extend to the sides of the watch. The green style is suitably vintage-looking thanks to its play on symmetry and geometry, while the beige version has a contrasting dial of blue.
As a final playful twist to an already imaginative collection, flip to the back of the watch to find a battery cover imprinted with one of the four first 1983 Swatch watches ever created, a detail that pays tribute to the 40th anniversary and legacy of Swatch’s GENT watch.
The BIOCERAMIC WHAT IF? Collection has launched globally on Swiss National Day, 1 August 2023, as well, surely a tribute to the brand’s Swiss-made heritage.
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Swatch BIOCERAMIC WHAT IF? Collection, $150 each. Available at Swatch stores and online at swatch.com.
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