How does one get at the mechanism of Swatch watches?

[wee-meng lee]

Hello,

In most watches, to get at the internal mechanism, there's a screw-on case
or a pop-off cap.

I was looking at a couple of quartz swatch watches and there doesn't seem to
be a way into the watch from the rear of the case. There's only a small
cover which is just the size of the battery.

I looked at the crystal but there doesn't seem to be any way of opening it
(not that I want to but am curious).

How does one remove the crystal of a swatch quartz watch? Any specialised
tool?

Thx
weemeng

[c***@hotmail.com]

Post by wee-meng lee
Hello,
In most watches, to get at the internal mechanism, there's a screw-on case
or a pop-off cap.
I was looking at a couple of quartz swatch watches and there doesn't seem to
be a way into the watch from the rear of the case. There's only a small
cover which is just the size of the battery.
I looked at the crystal but there doesn't seem to be any way of opening it
(not that I want to but am curious).
How does one remove the crystal of a swatch quartz watch? Any

specialised

Post by wee-meng lee
tool?
Thx
weemeng

Enjoy all your SWATCHes and don't bother to try and tamper with them.
If you want to look inside, buy a see-through one:

The technical concept of the Swiss Watch, S'Watch and finally what
became called the SWATCH was based upon the world record breaking
flattest "Delirium" watch. In order to save some thickness, the main
bridge, which is holding the whole assembly of inert as well as moving
pieces alltogether, was suppressed and the back of the watch case was
used instead. Similarly for the SWATCH, not because of thickness, but
in order to reduce the number of necessary parts to a strict minimum
and take advantage of the for the purpose newly invented and patented
mould plastic injection methods. You can easily understand that
tampering with the technical set-up is very difficult and has to be
left to specialised watchmakers having the necessary skills and tools.

The marketing concept was based upon SWATCH not being primarly a
time-keeping device, but to be a very affordable dressy design
"accessory" for trendy people. The intrensic time keeping quality of
the SWATCH should allow a good functioning much over the warranty time
and a few changes of battery.

Therefore, as from the very beginning the decision was taken to
completely nenounce to any repair possibility & completely seal off all
Swatches, with the exception of the hole for the battery.

The concept. which helped save the Swiss Watch Industry significantly,
was invented & developed technically by three young engineers at ETA
SA, the marketing concept was established with the assistance of an
outside marketing consultant, under the management of Dr. Ernst Thomke
and finally financed thanks the approval of Nicolas Hayek and the
supporting Swiss Banks.

Had the SWATCH come out as an ordinary watch and been marketed and sold
as such, it would not exist anymore today, neither as a watch type, nor
as a brand.

[djohnson]

I've got a mechanical Swatch on the way (as a replacement for my
display-back Feiko from maimaichinaman...)--Are these also
non-serviceable? Not that it's a problem, just curious.

[dAz]

Post by djohnson
I've got a mechanical Swatch on the way (as a replacement for my
display-back Feiko from maimaichinaman...)--Are these also
non-serviceable? Not that it's a problem, just curious.

yep, back is removeable to allow servicing of the movement

[Fraser Johnston]

<***@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:***@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
<snip>

Post by c***@hotmail.com
Had the SWATCH come out as an ordinary watch and been marketed and sold
as such, it would not exist anymore today, neither as a watch type, nor
as a brand.

Just as an aside. Am I the only person who thinks swatch make the loudest
ticking watch ever. I can't even sleep in the same room as mine.

Fraser

[Mark South]

Post by Fraser Johnston
<snip>

Post by c***@hotmail.com
Had the SWATCH come out as an ordinary watch and been marketed and sold
as such, it would not exist anymore today, neither as a watch type, nor
as a brand.

Just as an aside. Am I the only person who thinks swatch make the loudest
ticking watch ever. I can't even sleep in the same room as mine.

If you like Swatches, it's important to be careful to buy only those with
NO second hand. That thin plastic case does nothing to control the
acoustic quality of the TICK...TICK...TICK.

Obvious "Bose" remarks left as an exercise for the reader.

[Richard Sexton]

Post by Fraser Johnston
Just as an aside. Am I the only person who thinks swatch make the loudest
ticking watch ever. I can't even sleep in the same room as mine.

I've heard lousder. I had a 7-jewel Marvin once, prewar with
an unusual deco salmon dial. The thing was so loud it would keep
you awake from another room and had to be stuffed in a folder
pair of sicks in a sock draw which muffled it enough so you
could hardly hear it. It didn't sound loud
during the day to show you how lous our modern world is.

[Richard Sexton]

Post by c***@hotmail.com
Had the SWATCH come out as an ordinary watch and been marketed and sold
as such, it would not exist anymore today, neither as a watch type, nor
as a brand.

Like the Tissot plastic watch that preceeded it for example? (and
failed)

[Jack Denver]

Well the Tissot was a mechanical watch, not quartz like the original Swatch.
It's interesting that when Swatch did produce mechanical models they were
not based on any new technology - rather they used very conventional ETA
automatic movements and they even put some of them in stainless cases. I
suppose it was cheaper for them to use the tooling from an existing ETA
movement (especially one that was a low beat and not particularly in
demand), and outfit it with a cheap assortment than it was to start fresh
or even to pick up where they had left off with the Tissot plastic. Once you
move to robotic assembly and remove the expensive labor, the materials cost
of even a conventional movement is very low - an ounce of brass, a few
pennies worth of jewels, etc. On their metal Irony cases they did achieve
some savings by using powdered metal injection forming vs. conventional
casting and machining.

Swatch hyped it's low cost technique as part of its pitch, but I'm not sure
that it was really necessary - how much does Swatch really save by
integrating the back plate with the movement back vs. using a cheap separate
plastic quartz movement inside a plastic case? Pennies, I'll bet. The real
success of Swatch is that they made watches fun and collectible and full of
personality and whimsy - you could have a bunch of them in all different
patterns and colors. Whereas before a watch was a serious dull thing and 1
was enough.

Post by Richard Sexton

Post by c***@hotmail.com
Had the SWATCH come out as an ordinary watch and been marketed and sold
as such, it would not exist anymore today, neither as a watch type, nor
as a brand.

Like the Tissot plastic watch that preceeded it for example? (and
failed)
--
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http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wristwatches http://watches.list.mbz.org

[the swisswatchguy]

Post by Jack Denver
Well the Tissot was a mechanical watch, not quartz like the original Swatch.
It's interesting that when Swatch did produce mechanical models they were
not based on any new technology - rather they used very conventional ETA
automatic movements and they even put some of them in stainless cases. I
suppose it was cheaper for them to use the tooling from an existing ETA
movement (especially one that was a low beat and not particularly in
demand), and outfit it with a cheap assortment than it was to start fresh
or even to pick up where they had left off with the Tissot plastic. Once you
move to robotic assembly and remove the expensive labor, the

materials cost

Post by Jack Denver
of even a conventional movement is very low - an ounce of brass, a few
pennies worth of jewels, etc. On their metal Irony cases they did achieve
some savings by using powdered metal injection forming vs.

conventional

Post by Jack Denver
casting and machining.
Swatch hyped it's low cost technique as part of its pitch, but I'm not sure
that it was really necessary - how much does Swatch really save by
integrating the back plate with the movement back vs. using a cheap separate
plastic quartz movement inside a plastic case? Pennies, I'll bet. The real
success of Swatch is that they made watches fun and collectible and full of
personality and whimsy - you could have a bunch of them in all

different

Post by Jack Denver
patterns and colors. Whereas before a watch was a serious dull thing and 1
was enough.

True, Tissot's was a mechanical movement. Actually, it did fail in the
market place, because the whole project wast not treated correctly
marketing-wise: instead of creating a whole philosophy and image around
the product, as was done with SWATCH, they just tried to sell it as
another, cheaper watch, thanks to the mold-injection technology. It was
also a very difficult time and perhaps not the right brand with the
right distribution force. Mind you the technical advancements made then
were very useful in the creation and the manufacturing launch of SWATCH
later on, as well as the marketing lessons were well taken and
considered by Dr. E. Thomke and his marketing team and consultant, as
you so clearly hereabove analyse.

Untrue: the SWATCH technical concept with the case being the support
for all the other parts allows a degree of automatisation in the
assembly at the highest standards of precision, hence high long time
average standard of quality, hence savings in manufacturing as well as
in the distribution (warranty - After Sales Service) which could not
have not been reached with a more conventional movement concept. Also,
SWATCH needed to be different, unparralled.

Mind you, re "fun" watches: before, some clever U.S. businessmen
developed and marketed the Mickey Mouse pin-lever watch very
successfully!

[Richard Sexton]

Post by Jack Denver
Swatch hyped it's low cost technique as part of its pitch, but I'm not sure
that it was really necessary - how much does Swatch really save by
integrating the back plate with the movement back vs. using a cheap separate
plastic quartz movement inside a plastic case? Pennies, I'll bet. The real
success of Swatch is that they made watches fun and collectible and full of
personality and whimsy - you could have a bunch of them in all different
patterns and colors. Whereas before a watch was a serious dull thing and 1
was enough.

And it worked. I remember reading in that Italian Horolgy magazine in
the 91-92 timeframe where all the auction reports bemoaned
the fact Pateks were taking a back seat in high prices to
some of the very rare Swatches.

[the swisswatchguy]

Post by Richard Sexton
And it worked. I remember reading in that Italian Horolgy magazine in
the 91-92 timeframe where all the auction reports bemoaned
the fact Pateks were taking a back seat in high prices to
some of the very rare Swatches.

The Italian craze for SWATCH, where the whole nation seemed to be
collecting them, even going to London, NY and other places to buy the
market dry, are over. Now it's usual day to day business everywhere and
SWATCH has to be very careful in its projecting the right image across
the upcoming generation, in order to survive. The world is now full of
hipe watches.

[dAz]

Post by wee-meng lee
How does one remove the crystal of a swatch quartz watch? Any specialised
tool?

yep, one of these is usually quite effective ;)

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=23831

but there is little point in opening a Swatch, the case itself is the
movement's back plate, the wheels, etc are dropped in and the front
plate is put in and welded in place, the circuit board is also welded in
place

the dial if the watch uses one is fitted and the hands put on, finally
the glass is fitted and welded to the case

there are no screws or any way of disasembling the Swatch to service it.

[wee-meng lee]

Thx for the good information everyone.

I too find that the tick of Swatch watches loud. Once I was in a lift and I
heard its distinctive tick; I looked around and sure enough, someone was
wearing a quartz Swatch watch.

The ticking sounds do not cause me to lose sleep. I have a brass pendulum
skeleton clock and that makes an even louder sound. It strikes a little
bell on the hour. I find all these gentle ticking noises kind of soothing.

:)
weemeng

[the swisswatchguy]

Post by wee-meng lee
Thx for the good information everyone.
I too find that the tick of Swatch watches loud. Once I was in a

lift and I

Post by wee-meng lee
heard its distinctive tick; I looked around and sure enough, someone

was

Post by wee-meng lee
wearing a quartz Swatch watch.
The ticking sounds do not cause me to lose sleep. I have a brass

pendulum

Post by wee-meng lee
skeleton clock and that makes an even louder sound. It strikes a

little

Post by wee-meng lee
bell on the hour. I find all these gentle ticking noises kind of

soothing.

Post by wee-meng lee
:)
weemeng

The ticking sound was meant to be like that as from the very beginning
and has never been modified, although it could have been: its one of
the particularities of SWATCH.