![]() ![]() So as long as you manage your expectations reasonably, you’ll be happy with the Swatch Sistem 51. For the money, it has a lot of features, but it would be incorrect to suggest that you get the same mechanical watch experience from a $150 watch as you do from a $1,500 or $15,000 timepiece. So you have to understand that the Swatch Sistem 51 is simple and basic by design. Swatch, of course, doesn’t want its $150 mechanical watch to perform better than, say, a higher-end movement from ETA or something made in-house by, say, Omega. That isn’t to say that accuracy isn’t valued. Of course, no one really relies on mechanical watches as super accurate timepieces these days – rather, we wear them for their cool factor and the emotion we feel while wearing and enjoying them. I wouldn’t call the Swatch Sistem 51 a “chronometer grade instrument,” but it does its job. ![]() ![]() So how does it perform? As a 3Hz movement, I would say that it performs rather well. Okay, so the Swatch Sistem 51 automatic mechanical movement is simple but fun, and it can’t be repaired or regulated. If anything, Swatch has again succeeded in circumventing luxury with a sense of fun – something the company has been successful at doing since its formation in the 1980s. Nevertheless, Swatch made sure that despite the “non-luxury nature” of the Swatch Sistem 51, it has a cool, funky look to it. All the elements of a mechanical watch that you expect are there, such as a view of the oscillating balance wheel, but of course, so much is also different. You have a full plastic disc as the rotor which features an inner eccentric weight that allows it to operate as an automatic rotor. One of the most unique design elements (in addition to all the funky colors and designs) is the use of a transparent automatic rotor. According to Swatch, there are no other screws in the movement. A highlight is the view of the single, central screw which mounts the automatic rotor. The Swatch Sistem 51 movement even features a view of the mechanism through the rear of the watches. Automating the process of making watch movements is something that has proved futile on many levels in the past, with companies realizing that human effort is still often the most efficient when it comes to a number of watch movement production steps. In fact, this attempt at automating the production of a mechanical movement is one of the most interesting parts of the Swatch Sistem 51 story that most people understand little about. This movement has been specifically designed to be produced and regulated with as little human effort as possible. This is true for many Swiss watch movements, but not the Swatch Sistem 51. People tend to associate Swiss mechanical watches with a watchmaker sitting over a bench and assembling and regulating each movement by hand. This is basically the same policy that most watch repair places have with quartz movements because the replacement cost is cheaper than the repair cost. In fact, the entire Swatch Sistem 51 movement is said to be hermetically sealed, so if it breaks, the intention is more or less to simply replace it. The movement uses mostly plastic, as opposed to metal, and is not designed to be serviced. The movement is produced from 51 parts, operates at 3Hz (21,600 bph) and has a long power reserve of 90 hours. So let’s talk about the movement inside of Swatch Sistem 51 watches – a topic that has been explored a lot. ![]() The dial design takes on the look of a star or planet chart with a small “red constellation.” These red marks represent 6 of the 19 rubies that exist in the movement. This is the Swatch “Sistem Black” reference SUTB400 that was one of the original Swatch Sistem 51 releases. Actually, in truth, the sales success of Swatch is more beneficial to the luxury watch world than vice versa.įor this watch review, I wanted to feature not one of the newer Swatch Sistem 51 designs, but one of the original few that existed as part of the debut collection. So even though there are lower-priced Asian mechanical watches, the “Swiss nature” of the Swatch Sistem 51 allowed for it to live a bit closer to the world of luxury timepieces that helped spawn it. I used that exact language when featuring the Swatch Sistem 51 watch in our Top 10 Affordable Watches That Get A Nod From Watch Snobs article. One of the best things you can say about the Swatch Sistem 51 collection is that budget watch lovers could finally have a timepiece that was both inexpensive and fun, while also suitable as a timepiece to get a nod from watch snobs. It was not until late 2014 that the Swatch Sistem 51 collection was officially available for sale in the USA. Perhaps the irony of Swatch’s high-volume production mechanical watches produced by robots was that they experienced production delays that led to a slower-than-anticipated rollout of Swatch Sistem 51 watches around the world. ![]()
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