swatch watches
The Doppio Uso from 2001 (lfe) and the Tsunami from 1996 (right)

I’ve always been fond of watches. Before there were digital clocks or computers or cell phones, we all wore watches to tell time when we were out and about. I had a few dress watches, a Mickey Mouse watch (when I was in my pre-teen years) and I’m sure a couple I found inside a cereal box) and I wore them proudly.

Fast forward to the mid 80’s [or should that be rewind?] I was shopping at Robinson’s one day [before it was Robinson’s/May and way before it got swallowed up by Macy’s] and saw their watch counter. There were these really cool looking plastic watches that stood out from the rest. Bright colors and cool designs, they caught my eye. I had to have one.

swatch watches
The Chrono Grand Prix from 1992 (left – battery is dead) and the Speedweek from 1988

The photo above are two that I’ve had for at least 20 years. The blue banded one on the right is one of the first ones I got. I had a few others before, but both are in storage as they either quit working or had enough of the plastic break off that they become unwearable.

swatch watches
The Migraine from 1998 (gifted to me) on the left and the Nrgtik model I bought back in 2001

I really loved collecting these, although there was a limit that I placed on myself, otherwise, my collection would be much larger.

The other day on Twitter, Becky mentioned a Swatch she had and this sparked my interest to get these out of my nightstand drawer.

swatch watches
Swatch Guards (the second generation) and a watch band changer tool

To protect the face of the Swatch, they came out with Swatch Guards. The first was a rubber strap that barely covered the face. I don’t any of those left as they always seemed to break and catch on the hair on my wrist. Pictured above is the guard that offered better coverage of keeping scratches off the face.

It’s been years since I bought a Swatch. There used to be a store here in Salt Lake City, but it’s been gone for many years now. Seeing how my interest has been reignited, there may be another purchase here in the near future.

Here’s a list of the retired Swatches I have, but not pictured here: (clicking on each one opens a new page that shows a picture)

Who had a Swatch back in the day? Do you still wear one? Do you still collect?

Check out Squiggly Swatch Watches online. You can search by year, model, color, type and style [which is how I found all of the names above]