On September 1, Swatch placed an enigmatic double-page advertisement in some of the world's largest newspapers, revealing only water and a minimalist logo. Was this a new product launch? A rebrand? Was Swatch rebranding as a luxury water company?
As some typically astute watch experts immediately surmised, the ad was hinting at Swatch's follow-up collaboration to the Swatch x OMEGA Moonswatch: Swatch x Blancpain's Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms diving watch, releasing in five ocean-themed iterations on September 9 at Swatch's international stores.
Swatch revealed its Blancpain collaboration by way of September 4 Instagram posts and little else. Watch collectors who'd picked up on the initial teaser were quick to point out the likelihood of Swatch working with Blancpain on collaborative Fifty Fathoms watches, though.
"The logo on the Moonswatch has the shape of the crown on the Speedmaster and the shape of this logo has the crown of the Fifty Fathoms," one watch obsessive said in a breathy, single-sentence gallop on Instagram. "Plus it’s the 70th Anniversary this year and prior to releasing the Moonswatch last year, Nick Hayek Jr. said they were debating between making a Fifty Fathoms or Speedmaster in BioCeramic and went with the Speedy first so it only makes sense that this is the FF."
Indeed, with the big birthday celebration of Blancpain's signature diving watch, a Swatch take on the Fifty Fathoms only made sense. Well, to those who obsessively track watch culture, that is.
Swatch went to great lengths to put its obtuse ads out there, simultaneously taking equally great pains to keep its intent incredibly obscure.
The only way you'd have seen Swatch's original teaser, had you not seen Highsnobiety's photo of The Frankfurter Allgemeine's inside pages above, was by skimming through some of the world's largest newspapers where Swatch took out sparse two-page spreads on September 1.
All for images of water and a very minimal Swatch logo that only offered the letter "S," date (September 9, 2023), and a curiously blank space that suggested another company or person's initial ought to be there.
Note the presence of an "x," as in "Swatch x ______." Well, we now know that Blancpain will be occupying the aforementioned blank space.
Considering that Swatch sprung its OMEGA collaboration, the MoonSwatch, upon the world with hardly any warning or expectations of the immense demand that these limited edition watches would generate, it certainly seemed likely that Swatch would take precautionary measures before rolling out another big collaboration.
And the water was another clear hint we were likely talking about a watch that can get wet: a diving watch.
If so, was it possible we might've been looking at the next evolution of the OMEGA x Swatch MoonSwatch? Remember that the MoonSwatch's shape comes from OMEGA's inimitable Speedmaster. Could the OMEGA x Swatch Seamaster be next?
Wishful thinking but hardly inconceivable that OMEGA and Swatch would want to keep their hugely profitable collaboration going.
As for the Swatch x Blancpain collaboration, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Seems likely that the resulting Fifty Fathoms will tap a more niche appeal than the MoonSwatch, admittedly — Blancpain's Fifty Fathoms is pretty well-known in luxury watch circles but doesn't have the cultural aura of OMEGA's Speedmaster, especially when the retail prices lean closer to Swatch. Add in the space angle and you've got a recipe for a hit timepiece.
Still, Swatch offering an affordable iteration of a watch that typically retails for $15,000 probably will tickle quite a few fancies, whether they've previously heard of Blancpain or not.
This article was first published on September 1 and updated on September 6.
