What Is The Swatch Group’s Endgame With The MoonSwatch?

They're not hard to find as resale and not much more markup. i.e. the new white one can be had for $344 when retail was $310 here in the US. A poster on OF earlier had a sibling I guess waiting in line on launch and couldn't get one and in hindsight just paying $34 over retail a few months later is a much more effective use of time.

I have mixed feelings on this, first, waiting in line to pay list price or more for a non-reparable homage with a parade of "collectable " versions sort of reminds me of " Beanie Babies 2, the return ". Second, don't like fads. All that time, money and travel for a disposable product when I already have the real thing. Yes, I am currently waiting for a White-Faced Speedy, ya know, the one you have to wind.......but, as they say, whatever winds your clock.





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The Moonswatch gets more people into pure timepieces, especially those who might not otherwise choose to do so. Most of the younger generation tends to just wear smart watches. Hopefully these are gateways to more serious watches and helps to keep watchmaking alive to new watch lovers.

Just some thoughts FWIW ...

POINT 1:
I dunno, how many quartz watches are made to be repairable? I mean most people don't have "lasts for generations" at the top of their priorities for an automatic much less a quartz, no?

I have a quartz dive watch (Bathys Benthic) I specifically bought for its quartz movement (durable & reliable) and I have no idea if it's repairable ... it's also 15 years old now and still works great. If it craps out I probably wouldn't even bring it anywhere to be repaired, I'll just make it a museum piece, so not dispose it, but not repair either. It's got special meaning because John Patterson made it for me and hand delivered it in Kauai so I'd never toss it, plus it's a grade 5 Ti case.

Beyond that, I guess I consider just about everything disposable. Like I'm going to sell my car once it's out of warranty, is that disposing of it? For me it will be!

Most people do the same with watches ... buy, hold for awhile, flip. And I have swatches from the 80s that still work great so ... are they disposable? Like my Bathys I'd keep them either way.

And aren't all watches collectible? I mean how many versions of the Moonwatch or PO or AT are there? A lot!

POINT 2:
Are MoonSwatches any more a fad than the Moonwatch itself? Or Rolexes? I mean all watches are fads aren't they? Basically just man-jewelry with most people buying what's popular.

Like if you could only see the watch yourself, nobody else would ever see it, would watches be as popular? Nope. So that makes any luxury watch a fad ... or at least a long trend. (and I'd call the MoonSwatch a luxury good in its target customer segment, which isn't us)

As a counter-example, I have 10+ Swatch Sistem 51s which I bought because the engineering on the movement manufacture is pretty insane ... I don't think you can say any of them is a fad as most people have no idea they exist, and I won't be throwing any of them out because I like them so they're not disposable, at least to me.

TLDR: "disposable" and "fads" are in the eye of the beholder ... one person's disposable fad trash is another person's generations treasure.