People never forget the first time they stood in front of one of the world’s most famous artworks; that feeling of a new world opening and creative sparks flying. Exciting things happen when art and the world of Swatch collide, and from the get-go, Swatch has found fresh ways to bring more art to people’s lives.

2023 marks the next chapter of the Swatch Art Journey, going big with five capsule collections released from mid-March to May. The entire range is like an adventure through different moments in art history, from Botticelli to Lichtenstein, and it couldn’t be any more signature Swatch if it tried with unexpected details.

Swatch recreates a whopping ten masterpieces in its signature GENT, NEW GENT, and playfully provocative style : all designed to celebrate artists who were unafraid to try new things.

• Swatch x MoMA celebrates Pop Art and marks the 100th anniversary of Roy Lichtenstein’s birth.
• Swatch x Magritte presents tributes to the surrealist artist in his 125th birth anniversary.
• Swatch x LE GALLERIE DEGLI UFFIZI celebrates nature and femininity through the eyes and art of Renaissance supremo maestro Sandro Botticelli.
• Swatch x LOUVRE ABU DHABI unites the energy of ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa’ by Hokusai with a majestic ‘Astrolabe’.
• While the details of the final three Swatch Art Journey watches are firmly under wraps for now, Swatch hints that the next instalment of Swatch Art Journey will hit the sweet spot for street art fans.

The Swatch love affair with art started in 1985 with the first of a long line of Art Special watches. Always looking for new ways to democratise the art world, Swatch joined forces with the world-famous museums to recreate some of their most powerful artworks as part of a new Museum Journey series. Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (2018) and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid (2018) were the first venues to open their doors to Swatch, swiftly followed by the Musée du Louvre in Paris (2019), MoMA in New York (2021), and Centre Pompidou in Paris (2022).

The Swatch Art Journey Collection will be available as of March 16th, followed by another release that will be unveiled at a later stage.

Swatch x MoMA

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s birth

Pop art fans rejoice! Swatch has once again teamed up with MoMA, this time to honour legendary American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.  Two vibrant watches featuring artwork from MoMA’s collection blend his unique, comic-style art and single-color Benday dots with the playfulness and creativity of Swatch.

GIRL BY ROY LICHTENSTEIN, THE WATCH

Lichtenstein’s flair for innovation led him to design a rotating easel and his famous Benday technique that is on the reverse of this watch strap. The power of a smile is mesmerizing, and Swatch reproduces the famous artwork Girl (1963), with the blonde woman taking center stage.

REVERIE BY ROY LICHTENSTEIN, THE WATCH

Lichtenstein’s early enthusiasm for jazz music provided inspiration for a number of his iconic works, including Reverie (1965). The famous text on the artwork “The melody haunts my reverie” is on the speech bubble loop, while the canary yellow strap echoes the woman’s blonde hair.

Swatch x Magritte

Honouring the 125th birth anniversary of surrealist artist René Magritte.

Surrealist painter René Magritte is known for his dreamlike, imaginative aesthetic and evocative symbols (the bowler hat and pipes, to name a few). To mark the 125-year anniversary of the artist’s birth, two watches take his most famous paintings and translate them into wearable art for the wrist.

LA TRAHISON DES IMAGES BY RENÉ MAGRITTE

Wordplay was as important to Magritte as images, and his 1929 ‘The Treachery of Images’ is one of the famous examples. "Ceci est une Swatch” and the original artwork’s “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” is detailed on the strap. The playful packaging makes the whole experience a real surrealist one, bridging into Dada, and so totally Swatch.

LE FILS DE L’HOMME BY RENÉ MAGRITTE

Fun fact, Magritte’s most famous works were self-portraits, including the 1964 painting ‘The Son of Man’, which depicts the face of its bowler-hatted subject obscured by a hovering green apple. “Ceci est une Swatch avec une pomme” is written on the strap⎯a playful reference to the artist’s famous quotation “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.”

Swatch x LE GALLERIE DEGLI UFFIZI

Remastering Sandro Botticelli’s Renaissance art.

The renowned Le Gallerie degli Uffizi, known by its rich collection of Renaissance masterpieces, may house both the ‘Allegory of Spring’ and ‘The Birth of Venus’ by the one and only Sandro Botticelli in the same room, but now people can wear both on their wrists!

NASCITA DI VENERE BY SANDRO BOTTICELLI

Designed to be hung above the marital bed, ‘The Birth of Venus’ (circa 1486) was so controversial it was kept behind closed doors for half a century! Swatch reproduces the texture of the original painting in amazing quality. On the dial are the gods of winds, Zephyr and breeze, Aura who gently drive Venus towards the shore-her unmistakably beautiful face and pink roses cover the strap.

ALLEGORIA DELLA PRIMAVERA BY SANDRO BOTTICELLI

Nature was a great source of rich inspiration for the Italian, his painting ‘Allegoria della Primavera,’ or ‘Allegory of Spring’ features at least 138 different species of plants, some of which appear on this Swatch. The strap features Flora, goddess of flowers, adorned with violets, cornflowers, wild strawberries, and myrtle, among the citrus trees⎯a timeless tribute to nature and beauty.

Swatch x LOUVRE ABU DHABI

Hokusai meets Astrolabe: one watch unites the work of two epochs and two masters.

In an unprecedented collaboration with the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Swatch releases one eye-catching watch where two worlds unite: the powerful and iconic Japanese artwork by Katsushika Hokusai and the renowned sophisticated Astrolabe artifact by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Battûtî.

THE GREAT WAVE OFF KANAGAWA BY KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI & THE ASTROLABE

Hokusai goes to show that creativity has no deadline, as he was 60 years old when he designed his most famous print ‘Under the Wave off Kanagawa,’ part of the iconic Japanese series ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.’ The challenging willingness of men to explore the oceans and infinity, to be face to face with the power of nature, water and the night sky envelop this Swatch in Prussian blue tones that comes straight from Hokusai’s artwork. On the dial and front side of the watch strap is a close-up image of the cresting wave that cleverly plays with perspective to make Japan’s grandest mountain appear as a small triangular mound within its hollow. The underside depicts elements from Astrolabe, a marvel of mankind, flat projection of a night sky used to help calculate the position of the stars and determine the exact time of day.