Swatch: Classic or Fad?

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I still like them but no longer wear them. I can't take the fucking heat anyomore. Now I wear a detestable Fossil and people leave me alone.

― Aaron A., Monday, 11 July 2005 13:36 (twenty years ago)

classic.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

detestable Fossil OTM
i say checking the time on your pnone has ussured in the renaissance of the pocket watch

― lukey (Lukey G), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

anyway how is swatch a fad considering it's been around for ages? i got my first one 20 years ago...

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:46 (twenty years ago)

i had a raspberry-scented one, and a really cute anime spaceman one that some jackass stole at a friend's party.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

They aren't popular anymore. You can't even find them in department stores (not here at least). (x-post)

― Aaron A., Monday, 11 July 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

i've got a metal swatch that winds itself and never needs a battery!

dude there's a swatch store on 4th and b'way here.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

bloomingdales had a little swatch boutique at one point that my mother had to drag me out of kicking and screaming.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:50 (twenty years ago)

Swatch are classic, but I can't imagine wearing one anymore. The stuff they're known for is too much and too toyish for my everyday watch and their more straight looking models are not nice enough. I think the detestable Fossils do a much better job on select designs than swatch, but I would sooner buy a dozen other brands.

I have similar feelings about my G-Shock. I really love it, even the sportiness of it and I'm not a sporty guy. It took some getting use to digital again, but I love having the day, date and time right there every time I look, not to mention the alarms, stopwatch and databank (since I don't really use a cell phone and I never carry my PDA anymore). However, the G-shock logo is really ugly and I think the touches of red look a little tacky and I know people probably think, "G-Shock is so lame," but I really don't care.

http://www.isi21.com/shopping/watchaccessory/gshock04/42G-2800B-1JF400.jpg

― G-Shock Wearing Man, Monday, 11 July 2005 13:52 (twenty years ago)

i used to dig the pop swatches

― g-kit (g-kit), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:52 (twenty years ago)

Yeah hstencil, Swatch is more of a specialty/boutique item now compared to the popular sensation it was in '83.

― Aaron A., Monday, 11 July 2005 13:54 (twenty years ago)

right, so it's not exactly a "fad" then is it?!?

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

hmmm.

― Aaron A., Monday, 11 July 2005 13:57 (twenty years ago)

then... if it's not a fad, it must be classic. right?

― g-kit (g-kit), Monday, 11 July 2005 14:05 (twenty years ago)

I need a new watch.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 11 July 2005 14:12 (twenty years ago)

I find Swatches pretty ugly, generally. What happened to all those people who collected them in the eighties? Are they now sitting on small fortunes, or piles of worthless plastic?

I loved my lilac Baby G like no other watch I'd had before but I feel too grown up for it now. I'm afraid I've gone for brushed steel/black face CK boringness.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Monday, 11 July 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

i recommend a Swatch!

see, i had incredible luck with a PopSwatch when i was wee. I had one that had a black and white face, but when i went to deranged sports village Centerparks (or whatever they call it, probably C3nt3rP4rX or something), it managed to er, pop itself, and i lost it. waaah! so i ambulated as quickly as i could to lost property, told them i'd lost a black & white pop swatch face, and they were like "er, this one?" and showed me one with a swirly black & white pattern on it, which totally wasn't mine. So i was like "yep, that's the one!"
So i popped it in and ran off, hahaha!

i want another one now.

― g-kit (g-kit), Monday, 11 July 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

I used to have a swatch (in teh early 90's) that you could swap the straps on for all different colours/ patterns, problem is that i always kept braking my watches, that is untill my ma' brought me a g-shock one christmas, never turned back...

― battlingspacemonkey (battlingspacemonkey), Monday, 11 July 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

weird. pleasant plains and i were talking about swatches just the other night and found that we both owned grey w/ hot pink second hand swatches in the 80s.

i still say this is the best watch ever:

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/8356/spinner1tf.jpg

this swatch is nice though:

ihttp://img106.imageshack.us/img106/8313/swatch8ht.jpg

― sunny successor (i dont get dirty with the bodies once i kill 'em) (katharine), Monday, 11 July 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

maybe its too long. ill try again:

ihttp://img110.imageshack.us/img110/8524/swatch5pe.jpg

― sunny successor (i dont get dirty with the bodies once i kill 'em) (katharine), Monday, 11 July 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

lukey OTM - this is exactly what i think, and it's about time they made fashionable phones on chains for people to wear like pocket watches!

― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 11 July 2005 15:49 (twenty years ago)

fashionable phones on chains for people to wear like pocket watches!

http://www.cutepcs.com/shop/phone-motorola-v180-neck_chains.asp

Through the belt loop, drop through chain loop and plop into pocket. Voila. Now ask yourself: why would you want a PHONE chained to your waist when you have to pull it up to your EAR? So you can look like a bent-over jackass?

― G-Shock Dude, Monday, 11 July 2005 16:41 (twenty years ago)

Lookin' at my Gucci it's about that time...

― Schooly D, Monday, 11 July 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

there's a Swatch that totally bites kozyndan.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

no, it would need to be done right. It would be a flip phone, obv. so that it would look more like an old fashioned pocket watch. then the chain/strap would either have to be long enough to reach the ear comfortably, or retract into the phone or clip (probably this) so that you're not left with a dangling mess. anyway, it can be done, and should.

― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 11 July 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

It's the only watch that I wear lately. I'm always on the look-out for an understated, classic, simple, yet well-priced watch, and I can never find anything that I even like. Except for this silver Agnes B number that goes for about $400--so not economical. For 2 years I had a cute, simple white face, pink band one. Now I have a white face, blue band one. In NY it was really simple bc I could just go to their store on Bleecker and pick one up with little fuss for relatively little cash. I should probably upgrade to something a bit more adult at some time. My goal right now though is replacing my denimn Super Lovers wallet with something a bit less juvenile.

― Mary (Mary), Monday, 11 July 2005 23:32 (twenty years ago)

they still make and sell cabbage patch kids, but that doesn't mean they too weren't a fad.

― oops (Oops), Monday, 11 July 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

Classic. I've had a plain black one, with art-deco numbers on a white face for years. There's a simplicity, elegance, and purity of design that I can't find elsewhere.

― Ben Dot (1977), Monday, 11 July 2005 23:48 (twenty years ago)

oh right, it's bleecker, not 4th.

because something was a fad once doesn't make it a fad now, oops. that was my point.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

that's assumed in the definition of a fad.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 01:04 (twenty years ago)

right. so it seems kinda to follow that if something's no longer a fad, it doesn't make sense to describe it as one. you could say, "hey it was a fad," sure.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 01:12 (twenty years ago)

I guess I took him to mean "do you think the reason why swatches were so popular is the fad/novelty aspect, or is there a timeless beauty to them? no pun intended"

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 01:26 (twenty years ago)

for me, the fact that they were such a huge fad in the past prevents me from liking them in the present. i might as well just throw on some jelly bracelets, a pair of Zubaz, and a hypercolor shirt and attend 80s night at some crappy bar.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

fair enough.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

xpost

which means it's just about time they got big again.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 11:45 (twenty years ago)

I think perhaps Swatches are not much good. They feel like they are going to feel to bits. Having said that, I liked my red and white one when it was new-ish.

I would like a nice digital watch, but without all that flashy stuff. Just a plain, hardcore digital watch.

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:24 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

i found one of these at thrift store for $3.99, w/50% discount day so 2 bucks. apparently it's quite the thing and goes over big w/ collectors and especially straight edge kids 'cause of the x.

anyway, the band gets soft and really tacky when worn (almost like it's dissolving or something) and stays deformed in the curved shape of the wrist. i dunno if i'm being worrisome too much or what but i don't wanna absorb toxins and death by swatch. is this normal or does the band usually spring back to a fairly straight position (assuming anyone here has or has had swatches)?

http://www.boomertime.com/solditems/S2645/s2645.jpg

― slugbuggy, Saturday, 31 October 2009 00:15 (sixteen years ago)

Can't give you health advice on that, but that's a pretty fucking nice wristwatch, and I'd guess you could stick it on eBay for silly money.

― Soukesian, Saturday, 31 October 2009 01:07 (sixteen years ago)

yeah, here's one that's near mint w/box that's going for stupid money. not really big into swatches but it's a simple and clean design and i kinda like it.

― slugbuggy, Saturday, 31 October 2009 01:54 (sixteen years ago)

holy fuck dude sell that shit

100x profit

― we are normal and we want our freedom (Abbott), Saturday, 31 October 2009 02:37 (sixteen years ago)

abbott otm, there are plenty of nice swatches you can buy and have money left over after you sell this one

― a full circle lol (J0hn D.), Saturday, 31 October 2009 02:49 (sixteen years ago)

i dunno exactly what the material of that band is, but i've had o.g. swatches (like, mid90s) had some fucked up bands that only stay looking good for a real short amount of time. it's just like how you described, they get melted into shape, and if it's a colorful one, the color ends up bleeding out or bleaching completely.

― dylannn, Saturday, 31 October 2009 03:05 (sixteen years ago)

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