How The Business Gain Success

In the beginning, Swatch was designated to re-conquer the market share of Swiss manufacturers (on a submission level), which declined during the rapid increase(in the 1960s and 1970s) of Seiko and other Japanese companies.

The first assemblage of 12 Swatch models was officially presented on March 1, 1983 in Zürich. Originally, the price varied from CHF 39.90 to CHF 49.90 but was in autumn of 1983 it was standardized to CHF 50.00.

The main sale objective was to sell circa 1 million timepieces (for 1983) and 2.5 million for the following year. Gradually, it managed to become(and remain) dominant in Swiss-made watch trade. To this state, beside the "sane" price, has largely contributed also the accompanying advertising campaign.

Considering the price, a Swatch was substantially (i.e. of about 80%) cheaper than traditional watches. But price is not the only aspect of reduction - the number of components has been reduced as well: from the original 91 (or more) to mere 51. All watches were produced by completely automating assembly.

The mid-1980s could be labeled as the "Golden Age" of Swatches in the U.S. These watches reached their zenith when even a series of "Swatch Stores" were established in with the aim of selling Swatches. During this successful period, Swatch pioneered the notion of collaboration with famous artists (Keith Haring and many others). This caused that Swatches were perceived not only "a voguish youth article".

Soon after, the "public invention" seemed to be without boarders - people wore two Swatches at once and some even used a Swatch as a ponytail band. Models such as Pop Swatch, could be attached directly to clothing. Swatch was also the authorized timekeeper to the 1996 Summer Olympics, 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics. The Swatch Group still holds its positions of the world's largest watch company, despite the fact that the nowadays sales are much more lower than ever before. Recently, this company acquired many Swiss luxury brands, among which are the following: Breguet, Blancpain, Jaquet Droz, Glashütte-Original, Union Glashütte, Léon Hatot, Omega, Rado, Longines, Tissot, Calvin Klein, Certina, Mido, Pierre Bal-main, Hamilton, Flik Flak and Endura.

Swatch substantially broadened also its bid - the company is presently offering more than a dozen kinds of watches(including watches with metal bodies - the Irony series, watches for diving watches - the Scuba series, very "skinny" and flat bodied watches - the Skin family, and the Papparazzi series, which allows the watches to download quotations, news headlines, weather forecasts, etc. from the Internet. Another example series is called "Flik-Flak" and is primary intended for children. The wide offering is completed by watches with seasonal themes and watches covered with real diamonds.