Swatch Group - Bioceramic the future

Thinking aloud here.....with the undoubted success of the Omega Swatch MoonSwatch collaboration, it appears to me that Swatch have an advantage over its competitors (LVMH, Richemont) in that it could potentially raid their other brands marquee watches in further collaborations. For example who here would be interested in purchasing a bioceramic Longines Swatch collaboration Legend Diver or a Blancpain Swatch Fifty Fathoms? This could be the short term future for Swatch at the lower level price point. I do appreciate that Swatch can only do this for a limited amount of time but as I said above, with the continued success of the MoonSwatch collaboration surely someone in Swatch's Marketing Department must have thought about this.

I don't think the Legend Diver would pull the same crowds as the Speedmaster so I couldn't see that happening. It's been great for Omega's marketing...instead of giving out free Omega branded pens or baseball caps, you sell a £10 plastic thing for 20 times the price. Win-win for Omega, but I can't ever see the Swatch group recreating their wider catalogue as Swatch watches.

I get the fact that the Legend Diver or for that matter the Fifty Fathoms is not as well know to the 'man on the street' as the Omega Speedmaster. However, the average person queuing up outside a Swatch boutique to pick up a £200 bioceramic MoonSwatch associates the Omega brand with a £6k & upward price tag. That same 'man on the street' will also be aware that Longines are considerably more expensive than your average Swatch, even if the are a price point below Omega. I feel that if the collaboration watch were to have Longines or Blancpain on its face in a similar way Swatch have branded the MoonSwatch it almost wouldn't matter, I feel its more about RRP association than the watch itself. Maybe they wouldn't be able to shift as many as they have done with the MoonSwatch but I'm sure with the right marketing they would sell in decent numbers.

I f**king hope not. After a year of not being hugely bothered with the hype, I finally got my hands on a Moonswatch on Sunday... and f**k me, what a piece of s**t it is. The Swatch shop in Edinburgh had pretty much everything except Sun and Pluto in stock, I tried Mars and immediately hated it. Cheap and nasty doesn't even cover it, the things may be just a bit of cheap fun but the problem is they aren't cheap. Well, they aren't inexpensive, but they're cheap tat.

This collaboration is spot on and they’ve very cleverly used cues from special speedmasters (I.e mars looks like Alaska project, Jupiter has ultra man hands etc). Added to that the social media hype means it’s extremely successful. I don’t see any other collaborations working as well.

I would deeply, truly, madly LOVE it if they produced a cheeky Swatch homage to the Rolex Submariner next: as close as they can get without infringing trademarks - that would be beyond hilarious....

Just imagine the fanbhoi meltdowns! :icon_biggrin: Would make Chernobyl look like indoor fireworks...

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Originally Posted by earlofsodbury

I would deeply, truly, madly LOVE it if they produced a cheeky Swatch homage to the Rolex Submariner next: as close as they can get without infringing trademarks - that would be beyond hilarious....

Just imagine the fanbhoi meltdowns! :icon_biggrin: Would make Chernobyl look like indoor fireworks...

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Moser tried something similar - albeit a mash-up of a few classic designs, and had to beat a very hasty retreat, if I recall.

I think they'll go for the mass market like the Speedmaster. I'd anticipate they'll do a budget Bond Seamaster watch, and Olympic Speedy's. It's great to have such a huge endorsement like the Bond franchise and Olympics but very few of the audience could afford the usual Bond and Olympic special editions, so cashing in at a lower price point makes sense.

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Originally Posted by earlofsodbury

I would deeply, truly, madly LOVE it if they produced a cheeky Swatch homage to the Rolex Submariner next: as close as they can get without infringing trademarks - that would be beyond hilarious....

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That was ToyWatch's whole business plan.

What does the bioceramic thing actually mean? Just looks like plastic to me, like the original swatch watches. Or is it supposed to be compostable? - whatever, I for one think Omega lost the plot with the moonswatch. I don’t know anyone who has one or wants one. I think it was well timed for the instagram buy it and flog it crowd, it seems to have been poorly received elsewhere.

Given the enormous success of the moonswatch from a marketing / hype and presumably sales numbers, it would seem logical that swatch will be looking for another collaboration.

Mind you, it may be 2 different brands; eg Rado x Blancpain and May not be focussed around plastic copies.

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Originally Posted by RobDad

What does the bioceramic thing actually mean? Just looks like plastic to me, like the original swatch watches. Or is it supposed to be compostable? - whatever, I for one think Omega lost the plot with the moonswatch. I don’t know anyone who has one or wants one. I think it was well timed for the instagram buy it and flog it crowd, it seems to have been poorly received elsewhere.

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Bioceramic is from Swatch seems to be mostly plastic with an added ingredient, ceramic is a bit of a generic term to describe composit materials. Bioceramics can be used in medical body replacement parts such as hip implants. I don't think it's intended to be compostable.

I think if you had a box full of Moonswatches and put them up for sale at RRP you'd find plenty of people who want one. You've probably not asked many people if they want a Moonswatch (I know I haven't), so not really a good indicator to their success.

As a range it's certainly been one of the most talked about products in recent years, and hasn't put people off buying Speedmasters – from what I can gather sales are up, despite rising prices. Omega certainly didn't lose the plot, they added a new chapter and created a best seller.

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Originally Posted by chrisparker

Bioceramic is from Swatch seems to be mostly plastic with an added ingredient, ceramic is a bit of a generic term to describe composit materials. Bioceramics can be used in medical body replacement parts such as hip implants. I don't think it's intended to be compostable.

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Call me a cynic but I get the impression plastic became a dirty word because of it ending up in the ocean and killing flipper and his pals. Swatch and other companies had to somehow rebrand what is still plastic and as a result we have bioceramic. It’s a bit like the PR that all my sports clothes is made* with recycled materials. (*in part).

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Originally Posted by Christian

Call me a cynic but I get the impression plastic became a dirty word because of it ending up in the ocean and killing flipper and his pals. Swatch and other companies had to somehow rebrand what is still plastic and as a result we have bioceramic. It’s a bit like the PR that all my sports clothes is made* with recycled materials. (*in part).

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I'm not sure if the queues would have been any shorter had they called it plastic. Swatch are not afraid of calling other watches in their range plastic. Bioceramic is a term used by other manufacturing companies so it must have other properties than plastic. If it was purely for marketing they'd have invented a new word like 'Hesalite'.

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Originally Posted by Christian

Call me a cynic but I get the impression plastic became a dirty word because of it ending up in the ocean and killing flipper and his pals. Swatch and other companies had to somehow rebrand what is still plastic and as a result we have bioceramic. It’s a bit like the PR that all my sports clothes is made* with recycled materials. (*in part).

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Absolutely! It's simply a nonsense name for plain old plastic invented by marketing. Just my two pence.

Sent from my XQ-BQ52 using TZ-UK mobile app

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Originally Posted by chrisparker

I'm not sure if the queues would have been any shorter had they called it plastic. Swatch are not afraid of calling other watches in their range plastic. Bioceramic is a term used by other manufacturing companies so it must have other properties than plastic. If it was purely for marketing they'd have invented a new word like 'Hesalite'.

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Instead they've invented a new meaning for the word 'bioceramic'.

According to the Swatch website it's 'a hybrid composition of ceramic and biosourced [plastic] material that is sourced from castor-plant oil'.

So, ceramic plus plastic made from plants rather than petroleum. Make of that what you will, but it sounds to me to be a bit more than just marketing BS.

I didn't realise the size of the Bioceramic range, which goes far beyond the Moonswatches.

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Originally Posted by DMC102

According to the Swatch website it's 'a hybrid composition of ceramic and biosourced [plastic] material that is sourced from castor-plant oil'.

So, ceramic plus plastic made from plants rather than petroleum. Make of that what you will, but it sounds to me to be a bit more than just marketing BS.

I didn't realise the size of the Bioceramic range, which goes far beyond the Moonswatches.

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A bioceramic is a biocompatible ceramic material not a simple mixture of a ceramic with something biologically derived.

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Originally Posted by Kingstepper

A bioceramic is a biocompatible ceramic material not a simple mixture of a ceramic with something biologically derived.

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Exactly. As you said, they've invented a new meaning for the term, but from the sound of it the material itself is a bit more than just plain old plastic.

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Originally Posted by DMC102

Exactly. As you said, they've invented a new meaning for the term, but from the sound of it the material itself is a bit more than just plain old plastic.

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Well it can't be exactly that and something else Swatch want it to be.

It's just a plastic with a filler.

Of course - what they've actually done is to coin a proprietary name for their new material by using a capital B - it's 'Bioceramic'.

I think most of the people initially were a mix of hypebeast kids and speculators hoping to resell. The limited outlets made the chase and release all the more exciting. I can see the range unexpectedly stopped and a smaller selection in a new release. As omega have released hundreds of moonwatch variants, it would be east2 for swatch to do the same. Especially as they have the license for snoopy swatches, it would be an easy job to combine with the moonswatch. At the moment, i feel we are all complacent about the availability of the moonwatch and it will soon disappear.

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Originally Posted by DMC102

So, ceramic plus plastic made from plants rather than petroleum. Make of that what you will, but it sounds to me to be a bit more than just marketing BS.

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Agree, definitely marketing BS.
Doesn't really matter what the plastic is made of, its what happens to it once it is no longer needed and discarded is the problem.

Bio ceramic is not a new thing. Has been used in health care for a while, particularly orthopaedics.
It is biodegradable but not sustainable.