Every watch enthusiast should have a swatch in their collection, so why not a Swatch Sistem 51 Blue? Swatch (second watch) refers to the counter of the quartz crisis. The Swatch Group aimed to keep mechanical watches alive by creating an affordable automatic timepiece that could compete with quartz watches. In terms of “modern horological significance” it really does pack a punch.

The variations of this watch are endless and can be picked up for a bargain if you shop wisely. Keep in mind that most of the watch is made of plastic so it may feel cheap if you are used to much higher end watches. Though this is the price to be paid to have an in-house Swiss automatic watch at this price point. The way the strap is designed makes it difficult to swap out with any other regular straps (Swatch owners will know what I am talking about), however the strap it came with is well done. At first, setting the time and date was difficult out of the box but got better over time as I got used to the way this movement was operated.

At 42 mm it wears nicely on my 7.5 inch wrist. The sunburst dial is much better than I expected and I probably spend far too much time looking at it. It features a display case back which shows a surprisingly good looking movement and rotor. The way the rotor is designed makes it seem like the ind of perephiral rotor that you would find on some high end Breguet watches. Swatch is an iconic design and is easily recognizable (even by non-watch enthusiasts) and part of that is down to the way the strap attaches to the case, as previosuly mentioned. The Swatch Sistem 51 Blue is an incredibly fun piece that does not need to break the bank.