I bought my Swatch watch at their Manchester outlet about a year ago, and I'm pleased with my purchase - it keeps good time and fits nicely with my 'look'. I was prepared to spend £200 on the right watch, but I ended up going for a Swatch 'Irony - Open Ocean' for £65 which has a solid aluminium casing and a rubber strap. Here it is on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swatch-Mens-Open-Ocean-Watch/dp/B00322PK6M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295181379&sr=1-1
It's a 'fun, scuba' watch, but I still find it suitable for more formal occasions.
Rubber (and plastic) straps are the cheapest to replace - about £1 or something - and Swatch being focused on watches gives me confidence that they'll be there for me if a need a new strap or a repair. Incidentally, silicone rubber being naturally bendy, I think it may last a lot longer than a leather strap - 'Nice design innovation, Swatch!'
Swatch is a bit like Apple. Although the Swiss had a lot of watch manufacturing know-how, it seems that by the early eighties the Swiss watch industry was in a bit of a mess. Then Swatch (among others) was conceived and put the Swiss watchmakers back on track through a winning combination of design, styling, engineering and marketing. Like Apple, Swatch's product offering doesn't stand still but keeps evolving.
After a trekking round various jewellers and department stores, I found the Swatch in-store experience a breath of fresh air for a variety of reasons. The store is a manageable size and clearly laid-out. Swatch are focused on watches, with the repair guys right there in the back shop or even serving you. The watches are not locked away in a case, which gives you a better chance to look at them. I visited the Swatch store a couple of times before making my purchase and found all the staff I dealt with approachable and knowledgeable.
Swatch now make an extensive range of watches from executive-looking metal types at £250-ish, sports, daft-looking bling watches - you name it - so maybe there is a Swatch for you. While I don't feel 100% tied to the Swatch brand, I would tend to check in at a Swatch store if I needed to buy another watch as I feel they have all but the most extreme ends of the watch market well-covered. read more