digital swatches

The Tourbillon Boutique is a chain of retail stores operated by the Swatch Group that offers its most exclusive watch brands (and Swatch). While most of the shops are located in Switzerland, the US is about to see its second Tourbillon Boutique store, due to open in New York City sometime in May, located in the Financial District on Wall St. Recently, Swatch owned Omega opened up its flagship store on 5th Avenue, and this second new opening indicates a distinct focus on the US market for the Swatch Group watch brands. Until now, the only Tourbillon store in the US was located in Costa Mesa, just south of Los Angeles. The purpose of the store is to house the most luxurious brands and timepieces that the Swatch Group offers. This includes Breguet, Jaquet Droz, Blancpain, Glashutte Original, Leon Hatot, Omega, and Swatch (though I am not sure how the Swatch branded watches fit in as they are mainstream as opposed to luxury watches for the most part). The Tourbillon Boutique stores are not limited to watches with the expensive and complex tourbillon complications, but any of the firm's best timepiece offerings. Questions arise as to why the Swatch Group is currently expanding during difficult economic times. My guess is that the US market has more promise in terms of expansion than Europe, while at the same time the Swatch Group is investing in the future when the economy will eventually bounce back. Lower real estate prices and the availability of labor makes it an enticing environment for market positioning once the demand for fine timepieces edges its way back up, once again. Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Swatch watches have been flagged up as an iconic timepiece by a national news***.According to Emma Messenger of the Daily Mail, Swatch watches were the very first cheap and cheerful watches to be introduced.She said the product pioneered the notion that a top-quality watch could be fun, trendy and disposable - and not necessarily a luxury accessory.This, she continued, ensured that Swatch watches were popular with a wide range of people, including children and keen followers of fashion.Ms Messenger commended Swatch watches for their "bright colours and quirky styles", before noting that even late artist Andy Warhol was a fan of the watches.She was writing after the death of Nicolas Hayek, who founded the Swatch brand in the early 1980s.Mr Hayek has received many tributes since his death was confirmed, with author Nicholas Foulkes this week telling the Telegraph the design of Swatch watches is a work of genius.