When I first read about the Swatch Sistem 51 I found the challenge given by Nicolas Hayek to his engineers intriguing. What he basically asked them to do was to reinvent the Swatch that had successfully challenged the cheap quartz watches from Asia, but this time with a mechanical watch that could be produced at a price around $150.

What they came up with was an automatic watch with 51 components, all held together by one screw. Housed in a plastic case with a display back and a rubber Silicone strap, it did look cheap, but it looked like a Swatch.

I waited patiently for the Swatch Sistem 51 to become available and once it was announced, it was released to a few Swatch flagship stores. I got one in London a couple of months after it was first released and started wearing it as my daily watch for a period. It was surprisingly accurate. Quite fun to look at with a pattern on the dial that resembled a star constellation, but I think it is actually markings of the pivots in the movement.

The back side is also funny to look at with psychedelic patterns on the movement and rotor.

The movement is made of an antimagnetic copper alloy. The Swatch Sistem 51 is regulated with a laser when produced and cannot be regulated or serviced afterwards. The newer models can however be serviced by Swatch, probably to be more sustainable as this increasingly becomes a marketing factor. The watch has a date and even a quickset function for the date. My only problem with the date is the size, but that’s just my bad eyesight as I need something like the GO Panodate to see it without my reading glasses on.

I have put the Swatch Sistem 51 through the paces over the years and knocked it around a lot doing gardening. This means that it is not as accurate as it used to be, but still running very well. I would have thought that it was broken by now, being over 10 years old and not serviced, but it continues to soldier on and still has a great power reserve. For a new watch it is 90 hours and I think it is still close, even though I haven’t checked.

The Swatch Sistem 51 is light and wears well, even though I’m not a great fan of rubber and silicone straps. You cannot ignore the practical aspect of a silicone strap when you for instance are sweating while exercising.

A lot of models have come since, also some with a metal case. I bought one of the metal versions when they came out and it has been equally good in keeping time and I will not exclude the possibility of buying more, if some fun models come out.

It may be that you only see a cheap plastic watch with a crap movement in cheap materials. Well, I see a watch envisioned by a visionary man in the watch world who loved Breguet tourbillon watches and still could come up with the idea for Sistem51. All in all, I think the Swatch Sistem 51 is great value for money for what for me is a historically important watch.