Reply With QuoteWhich one did you get and what size? I've recently got into digital Casios and I feel a calling for a quartz Swatch. Love some of their new designs. I can see me getting a 34mm Belle De Break or Milkolor very soon.
Tonight, I took a Swatch Watch to the main store in Manchester. It's really sentimental to me and they couldn't have been nicer. Firstly, it was missing the strap-keeper and entire buckle assembly but they replaced this completely FoC. In fact this is standard practice for the lifetime of the watch. They also buffed the crystal and removed some light scratches without me asking. Finally, I found out that battery replacement is also free for the life of the watch.
So as a purchaser you walk in, have loads of fun watches to choose from, spend as little as £38 on a water resistant watch with day/date functionality and luminescence in some cases, yet you receive better service and after sales than most premium brands have ever offered me. I love that :-)
No, I won't be replacing my Rolex with a Swatch, but I have just bought another Swatch I'll probably wear for work a little bit, and I reckon I may even start a little collection of them. I won't wear the sentimental one as I don't want to risk it (it belonged to my closest family member before she passed away last year), but it's great to have it back to how it was when new FoC.
Which one did you get and what size? I've recently got into digital Casios and I feel a calling for a quartz Swatch. Love some of their new designs. I can see me getting a 34mm Belle De Break or Milkolor very soon.
I tried the 41mm case and it was surprisingly large. I think it's the way the strap meets the watch head, so I've actually just bought a 34mm. It's small of course, but it's the same size as the one I took there tonight.Originally Posted by beechcustom
This is what I purchased... http://www.watchshop.com/unisex-swat...p99972046.html
Swatch takes me back to the late 80s / early 90s when the only shop in the UK was in Oxford Street, London. The wife loved them and still has a few. There is a shop in Liverpool One now so I might take them in, but I doubt that they will get them up and running FOC. She has three I think and they are all around 25 to 30 years old. Must dig them out at some point and get them sorted for her.
Give it a try and update us. I'd love to know if they get them going lol
Yeah I don't fancy the 41mm at all, I'd stick with the 34mm original size. FRetro tastic. I like the one you bought. Very tempted by this: http://www.watchshop.com/unisex-swat...p99995067.html
I think to be honest it may be just batteries, but I will take them with me next time I cross to the dark side.
Mmm, love my Pumpkin Rebel
The strap is very comfortable
...and you'll never lose it either :-) They're fun though aren't they. A nice, non-serious side to this hobby.
Impressive service! Hard to believe this level is offered anywhere.
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They used to do collectors series, like James Bond and the various Olympics. They were big in collectors circles for a while.
Just 'pulled the trigger' on this. And no, I'm not drunk. http://shop.swatch.com/en_gb/watches...lor-gm417.html
Haha cool. There's also a section where you can create your own watch from combinations of straps and different dials etc. They may be plastic but they at least seem to last; lots of people seem to have one or 10 in a drawer somewhere.
That shop has closed down now I think Ken.
Just had a quick look. Very cool but no date complication available so happy with my Milkolor choice (so cheerful and very Swatch I thought). This could very well become a thing, just hope the 34mm doesn't wear TOO small.
It is small, but it looks okay on my tiny wrist. It's not a rolex so you're allowed to try a smaller one of these :-)
Bought my wife 3 swatches all about 15 yrs old. All funky all cool. And never missed a tick . Buckle broke on one and got a replacement on Ebay for £2. I think they are cool and wish they were all I liked sometimes lol.
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I had a yellow and blue scuba swatch some 30 years ago, in my pre wis days, and I adored it. Wore it on my honeymoon. Both watch and wife long gone.
I do miss that watch 😆😆😆
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I'm a 36mm Datejust kind of guy anyway :-)
Oh bu**er. Thanks anyway Colin, I won't do a special journey then.
Just to confirm - it has indeed closed.
The lovely little Swatch stall in the middle of the Victoria Station concourse has disappeared too
Was this part of an AD cull due to repeat discounting?
Must be. I wonder if there's any spare ties and paperweights hanging around in a back room somewhere.
I took my boy into a swatch store in SA recently and had great fun browsing before surprising him by letting him have one. He loves it and, as the OP said, a recent cracked buckle was replaced free of charge with a smile. Brilliant customer experience.
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Shhh. Don't tell Steve.
Just had dispatch confirmation of my 'hopefully the right side of ludicrous' new Swatch from their official UK website and it's literally coming straight from Switzerland.
Last edited by beechcustom; 30th June 2017 at 08:51.
Inspired by this thread I dug out my old (getting on for 25 years old now) Swatch and took it along to get the battery changed. After all, it is my only chrono. New battery fitted and working just as well as when I first got it. :)
What surprised me while I was there is that some of their designs are now rather good. I remember that it used to be the case (20-odd years ago when I last really looked) that there was always something, and often more than one thing, that would bother me about any particular Swatch design. It was like they came up with a good idea and then took it too far. Take my Swatch above, which was a present and not a design I'd have chosen (although I came around to it, having worn it for many years). What's the use of that dark blue crescent on the right hand side? Anyway, two that caught my eye today as examples that a) I'd happily wear and b) they haven't mucked up the design on, are these:
This nice chrono with champagne sunburst dial.
And this Sinn-esque flieger type Swatch.
There's a guy on e-bay up the road from me selling two 7 foot Swatch watches (well clocks really).
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-Vintag...gAAOSwnHZYSpIo
Barking mad.
I remember those as a kid. They used to have them in Fenwick's in Newcastle 30 years or so ago.
A) Don't show me things like that
B) Can you imagine the look on the face of the store staff if I asked for y free battery replacement?
Go on Wayne you know you want to. They wouldn't look any bigger on your wrist than a DSSDA) Don't show me things like that
B) Can you imagine the look on the face of the store staff if I asked for y free battery replacement?
Really lolGo on Wayne you know you want to. They wouldn't look any bigger on your wrist than a DSSD
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Uri Geller broke my Swatch in 1987. Given to me on my 21st birthday by a friend, I was wearing it on the day he came to visit the department in which I was working in Reading. He offered to do one of his tricks - he asked me to put my swatch face down on the table and put my finger on the caseback. When I turned it back over, it had advanced 2 hours. Unfortunately, it never worked again.
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I bought my sister a 1987 Pop Swatch for her 30th birthday this year. Took a battery, but ran very slowly. They took it in, phoned a week later for me to pick it up, all working perfectly again. And a brand new Swatch branded battery in it, too. All free of charge. Very tempted to get something of theirs as a daily now, just wish they did "manlier" looking pieces.
No way, that's impressive. I think in terms of manliest watches, they've tried with larger steel cases etc. However to me, that isn't the brand ethos. They should all just be cheap, plastic things that last like they appear to :-)
Bit of an update on a purchase that was inspired by this thread. I finally got a chance to unbox my new 'Milkolor' classic sized Swatch late last night after getting back from a gig. First impressions were 'I've just wasted £38'. It seemed like UPS may have been playing football with the package as everything inside was floating around and the watch box had split in two and one part had a crack in it. Not a good start. The seconds hand ticks REALLY loud and when I set the watch it became clear that the movement wasn't hackable and it was difficult to set the watch accurately against my Radio Controlled G-Shock to assuage what is clearly a little bit of timekeeping OCD I have going on. The movement seemed really flimsy and the seconds hand didn't appear to fit the markers.
Anyway, this morning I got up and put the watch on and having worn it a little I now feel very different about it. It's such a cheerful design and I believe just the right side of ridiculous. It's not too small either although the end of the 6 o'clock strap only just fits inside the keeper The seconds hand does appear to hit the markers so maybe it has settled down overnight or I was too tired to see straight.
Not sure if Swatch issue any timekeeping tolerances for their quartz watches? I may be wrong but it seems to be racing ahead of my digital Casios.
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