1983 Fachhandelogo
Of course well known by all Swatch collectors, but not many know, what the small watch logo on the dial, called ‘Fachhandellogo’ in German, means.
This small and stylised watch logo is the symbol for the association of professional watch retailers and watchmakers in Switzerland. As the Swatch watches were meant to be sold everywhere, especially in department stores, the professional watch resellers wanted a specific mark on the dial which would show, that the watch has been bought from a professional watch retail shop rather than in an anonymous department store, where you would not get any specific and knowledgeable service.
The logo was printed on the dials in 1983, but later Swatch refused to have specific prints on the dial (see discussion about this below concerning the ‘EMF Davos’ model) and the logo was the not printed but stamped onto the strap.
The logos on the dials come in two different sizes.
Please note, that the Swatches with the logo printed on the strap are not rare and are neither considered specials nor variants and by no means prototypes.
1983 Olympic Games of 1984 Prototype
This might me one of the first versions of a ‘Special” ever made. It is in the form of a ‘Mock-up’ which means it is made of solid plastic and bears no place for a movement. This is a non-working design study only, with glued-in hands. One of the current brass dials of 1983 has been taken and the 5 rings symbolizing the five continents and symbol of the Olympic games were added. The ‘S’ on top of ‘swiss’ most probably refers to the concept of introducing a ‘Special limited edition series’ to the normally available Swatches.
1984 GB101 EMF Davos Symposium 1985 Prototype
The international economic meeting or symposium held in Davos (Switzerland) every year since 1971 changed its name from European Management Forum (EMF) to World Economic Forum (WEF) in 1987.
Not many people know the history behind the development of the limited edition GB101 EMF Davos Symposium of 1985. According to the testimony of the initiator of the project, Mr. G. Etter, the watch was thought as part of the gift packages for the participants of the Economic Forum. A part of the watch, the package included a scarf bearing the colors (yellow and blue) of the flag representing the village Davos, where the Forum was held.
Mr. Etter, as responsible person for the organisation and distribution of the gift package contacted Swatch mid 1984, to ask them to produce a limited series of watches for the occasion. Swatch replied with the concept of printing the logo of the Forum on the strap, method regurarly used by Swatch to accomodate advertisements for clients since 1983. Mr. Etter insisted, that for this special occasion he wanted to have the dials personalized with the logo and not the straps, as he could have this done mutch cheaper by having the straps printed by whichever serigrapher.
Swatch, who until then had only made two personalized dials for two watches given as a gift to the head of Migros (Swiss grocery store chain) Mr. P. Arnold and to the former head of the Red Cross (please see respective prototype in the 1983 section) finally agreed.
In late 1984 Mr. Etter received three samples with different versions of the gold colored script on the dial of the model GB101 from 1983. The differences between these three prototypes being the size, the font and the spacing of the script.
After choosing the definitive version (mid sized script, dots between the letters forming the abbreviation of the Economic Forum (E.M.F) and latter abbreviation in a different font) a few hundred (not 2000 as stated in some sources) models with a blister package and a matching cover sheet have been delivered to Davos.
The watches had such a huge success among the visitors, that the organizors, who at the beginning were not fond of the idea of distributing watches, asked Etter to order more pieces. Etter replied that Swatch had delivered the ordered amount and that no more would follow.
The watch on the picture is the last of the three samples in personal possession of Mr. Etter, and has been obtained directly from him. The case is a 1983 ‘sample’ with a 1982 crown. The dial has the preliminary imprint showing the abbreviation EMF with no dots between the letters. Mr. Etter has never received colored prototypes or prototypes based on the models ‘High Tech’ or High Tech 2′ as found in the Blum collection. Either these watches were for an internal study only, or they represent later hybrids. As Swatch didn’t seem very interested in developing special personalized dials we tend towards the hybrid hypothesis.
Mr. Etter has agreed to sign some straps and copies of paper inlays for the blister, one combination can be purchased in the ‘For Sale‘ section.
1985 Velvet Underground (white version) ‘naked’
Actually the version of the ‘Velvet Underground’ model shown here is neither a prototype nor a variant nor a test. It is the ‘naked’ version of the watch which usually comes wrapped in a stocking. The watch has been developed as a USA special and should have been sold to night clubers at an underground party in New York. To increase the stylistic link to the night-club-scene in NY during the mid 1980ies, Daniel J. Komar had the idea of wrapping the 500 watches (for each color: white, black) into pieces of stocking. He personally chose the stocking (from Fogal) and had it hand-wrapped and sutured around the watches.
Some prototypes exist with different colored stocking, but as the stocking is not an integral part of the watch and easily replaceable, these models are not regarded as prototypes.
The production could not be finalized in time for the event, so the watches have been sold to Swatch employees in the USA, very few have even seen the market without stocking.
The reason for showing this ‘normal’ model here is to have the opportunity to see the watch, the codes and the rounded crown (to not injure the stocking) without the stocking.
1988 Black Puff Test
The puff series has been created to commemorate on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of Swatch in 1988. It was planned to distribute them to VIP’s present at the celebrations and it was planned to produce 120 of them (20 for each of the 6 colors). The special feature is the fur which is attached to the watch by means of a brass ring (ring color can vary: brass, golden or black).
Finally no one knows how many of them were produced.
This piece is a non working test version of “Black Puff”. As the definitive versions it has the dial of the model “Snowhite” and the hands of the “Limelight” series. The only difference to the definitive model is the fact of having no movement, no codes and a golden crown.
1992 The People Prototype
The people model has been created to commemorate the 100’000’000th Swatch built in 1992. The prototype shown on the picture is the only existing prototype of that model and shows the same script on the dial as the officially released piece. The main difference is the completely white dial and that the hands are annotated by hand in minuscule script remembering again the year and the number of Swatches made.
The strap is the same as seen in the official model, but it bears the signature of the Italian designer and architect Alessandro Mendini, who was involved in the design process of the watch. As the calligraphy of the numbers on the hands does not correspond to the one of the signature, we are sure that the hands have not been inscribed by Medini himself, but most probably by the Swatch-engineer assembling the watch.
The case has no codes on the back and the watch is a non-working piece.
This watch was part of the famous Blum-collection before being acquired by a German collector, who passed it on to a collector in Switzerland.
Swatch Prototypes 