![]() Synthetic materials were used for the watchcases as well as a new ultra-sonic welding process and assembly technology. This combination of marketing and manufacturing expertise restored Switzerland as a major player in the world wristwatch market. Later he changed company's name to Swatch Group. He became chairman of the board of directors, and CEO in 1986. Hayek, together with a group of Swiss investors, took over a majority shareholding of Swatch during 1985 in the newly consolidated group under the name Societe Suisse de Microelectronique et d'Horlogerie, or SMH. With an aggressive marketing campaign and relatively low price for a Swiss-made watch, it gained instant popularity in its home market. Sales targets were set to one million timepieces for 1983 and 2.5 million the year after. Initially the price ranged from CHF 39.90 to CHF 49.90 but was standardized to CHF 50.00 in autumn of the same year. The first collection of twelve Swatch models was introduced on 1 March 1983 in Zürich, Switzerland. In 1983, the group hired Jacques Irniger-who formerly served as the marketing executive for Colgate, Nestlé-to launch the swatch. Swatch was originally intended to re-capture entry level market share lost by Swiss manufacturers of mechanical watches, and the subsequent growth of Japanese companies such as Seiko and Citizen in the 1960s and 1970s, and to re-popularize analog watches at a time when digital watches had achieved wide popularity. Ĭonceived as a standard timekeeper in plastic, Franz Sprecher, a marketing consultant hired by Thomke to give the project an outsider's consideration, sought to create a fashionable line of watches. The watches are available this month.Swatch began development in the early 1980s, under the leadership of the then ETA SA's CEO, Ernst Thomke with a small team of watch engineers led by Elmar Mock and Jacques Müller. Sold under the Seiko Luxe site, the watches cost $1,500 – not a great price for a three-handed diver but acceptable given the level of work that goes into these. It has a 43.5mm case made of Titanium with a super-hard coating. The watch runs Seiko’s Caliber 6R35 with a power reserve of 70 hours, and both manual and automatic winding capabilities. ![]() And, to provide the utmost in visibility, the distinctively formed hands feature LumiBrite coating, while the durable sapphire crystals include anti-reflective coating on the inner surface. ![]() ![]() Each dial is framed by a uni-directional rotating bezel to track elapsed time, with a subtle two-tone finish to express the duality of light and dark within these mysterious undersea worlds. With distinctive patterning to suggest the natural formations and mineral deposits of undersea cave walls, the dials, available in light-green, blue-gray or blue-green, evoke the changing tones viewed by divers as their safety lights illuminate these deep-water caverns. Special Editions are crafted of titanium as well, with the addition of a super-hard coating making them perfect for extreme underwater environments. Among the many innovations of this landmark watch was the first use of titanium in a diver’s watch – offering an unprecedented degree of lightness, durability and corrosion resistance. Seiko immediately formed a research team to address this vital need, working for seven years to produce a watch that completely redefined underwater timekeeping. Now Seiko has released a new, special edition version of these divers that feature designs and colors inspired by the sea.īy the late ’60s, when Seiko diver’s watches were already setting new standards for high-intensity timekeeping, a letter from a professional diver posed a new challenge – there was no watch available, however advanced, that could withstand the rigors of true saturation diving. Designed in the late 1960s, these watches have surveilled the bottom of the ocean and hit weird dark caves. Seiko’s Prospex diver series is the definitive dive watch.
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