Swatch Watches

About Swatch Watches Swatch began in the early 1980s under the leadership of the CEO of ETA SA, Ernst Thomke. The brand started with only a small team of engineers, led by Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller. Thomke also hired a marketing consultant, Franz Sprecher, to give the project an outsiders consideration. The project is a timepiece in plastic, that would offer a fashionable look too. The original plan for Swatch was to re-capture the entry-level market share that had been lost by Swiss manufacturers during the quartz crisis. They were looking to regain the market back from Japanese companies that had grown through the ’60s and ’70s, such as Seiko and Citizen. They also aimed to re-popularize the analogue watch, at a time that digital pieces were becoming more and more popular themselves. Following the success of the brand, in 1985, a Lebanese entrepreneur, Nicolas G. Hayek, alongside a group of Swiss investors, took over the majority shareholding of Swatch. This newly consolidated group was named Societe Suisse de Microelectronique et d’Horologerie, or SMH. Hayek became the chairman of the board of directors, and CEO in 1986, and later went on to rename the company to Swatch Group, the company we know today. This was a fantastic combination for the brand, combining marketing and manufacturing expertise to bring Switzerland back in to the market as a major player in the world of watches. Swatch developed and used innovative synthetic materials for the watch-cases, as well as a new ultra-sonic welding process and assembly technology. This is a brand that have not stopped changing and innovating to improve their product, and still remain one of the most popular, and well known brands around the world.