Business / Fashion - 12 April 2022 - interview

The year 2022 for Swatch -

Carlo Giordanetti, Swatch Member of the Product and Design Committee and

CEO of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel, on his vision, art, the CLEAR Collection and

the sustainability of BIOCERAMIC. 

Carlo Giordanetti, Swatch Member of the Product and Design Committee and CEO of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel

©Swatch

Swatch CEO Nick Hayek said that 2022 will be a record year for the brand. The launch of the new watches from the collaboration between Swatch and the largest contemporary art museum, the Centre Pompidou, just took place in Paris on 8 March 2022.

This is by no means the first museum collaboration for Swatch - previous Swatch watch creations have been made with the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Thyssen- Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid, the Musée du Louvre in Paris and last year with New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The latest art collaboration launches no less than 6 masterpieces, plus an extra artistic package for collectors of the entire collection and the Swatch X You as well. 

The messages of art are not the only highlight, however. The year began with a concession to the past 2 years in the form of the transparent CLEAR Collection. A milestone was the introduction of the BIOCERAMIC in 2021.

The man behind the design at Swatch is Carlo Giordanetti, Swatch Member of the Product and Design Committee. He is also CEO of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel, an artist residency in Shanghai where artists can live and work at the hotel for a certain period of time. 

Brands and art collaborations abound - but what makes the collaboration between Swatch and the world of art so different, and why is it so fruitful? Alethea & Art Magazine received an interview from Carlo Giordanetti on the occasion of the Swatch X Centre Pompidou launch in Paris and learned about Swatch's role in the world of watches today, where its unwavering creativity and energy comes from, the group's sustainability efforts and what his next plans are. 

"Our mission is to be unexpected - so it's difficult to say what we should expect."

Carlo Giordanetti

12 April 2022

Alethea & Art Magazine: What is the position of a Swatch in the world of watches? 

Carlo Giordanetti: Swatch is the - I choose the French phrase - the enfant terrible in the world of watches. It is the watch brand that brings provocation - also brings a certain lightness to the way Swatch looks at things. It is Swatch's philosophy that we see things with different eyes.  Working with artists and new, innovative materials always goes hand in hand with a strong commitment to quality. But still, Swatch's intellectual approach is light - we bring a wind of freedom and lightness to the watch industry.

It's a mission to be different and unexpected. Majestic (the QUEEN Platinum Jubilee tribute, ed.) is a very good example of how you can do something very traditional and a tribute to the Queen of England in a fun way.

Alethea & Art Magazine: The Swatch is a watch for collectors - do you know how many Swatch models a collector has on average? 

Carlo Giordanetti: That's a very good question. I think it depends a lot on the level of passion you have as a collector. We know many collectors who have hundreds of Swatches, we know some collectors who have thousands of Swatches, and the beauty of Swatch is that you can have many different angles to enjoy the idea of collecting. Sometimes you can become a collector without making a rational decision. When you start to enjoy something, in this case a Swatch - the spirit of the Swatch - you can decide at different moments to give yourself or someone a gift - spontaneously, because the product seems right at that moment. 

Swatch is a brand that stands for the idea of being free to choose and be diverse - to take different approaches. There are people who only collect art watches - others may only collect green watches. The beauty of our brand is that there are so many different ways to approach it and become familiar with it. 

Alethea & Art Magazine: You launched the BIOCERAMIC watches as a statement on sustainability. What plastic do you still use now and will it be replaced by BIOCERAMIC plastic? 

Carlo Giordanetti: Our mission is to develop new materials - we started using a plastic that comes from organic farming in 2020 with the 1983 Reloaded collection. We have already been using BIOCERAMIC since 2021. Already today, more than 50% of the products you find in a shop are made of BIOCERAMIC or bio-sourced plastic.

Some elements are very important for Swatch and its transparency. We are always working on new materials to be able to use every element of our language.

Alethea & Art Magazine: To what extent are your materials recyclable? 

Carlo Giordanetti: BIOCERAMIC is recyclable. Some other elements are compostable. In our case, the compostable part is the packaging; it is made of a material that goes back to nature. We stopped using plastic packaging two years ago.

Alethea & Art Magazine: What other sustainability measures is Swatch taking? 

Carlo Giordanetti: The biggest project itself is our new headquarters, which we inaugurated in 2019. It is not only a milestone architecturally, but it was also designed by an architect who specialises in sustainable architecture.

One of the biggest and most important elements the group has invested in is keeping production in Switzerland. This is of course an important sustainable approach. We don't fly parts around - we make everything happen on site. So the environment is not affected by logistics.

Alethea & Art Magazine: Many young people today invest in expensive mechanical watches instead of a Swatch. Which Swatch models are interesting for these buyers? 

Carlo Giordanetti: We have a very revolutionary movement called SISTEM 51, which was developed and launched in 2013. It was a revolution in the world of mechanics because it's a high-precision mechanical movement that consists of only 51 parts - so it was very innovative. We had to build a new factory to bring in a lot of new talent to manufacture and assemble it. We offer it in different designs - a very attractive product for this generation, because you can also enjoy the beauty of the movement, as the back of the watch is always transparent. The watch has a double personality because on the front you can have very different styles and on the back you can enjoy the beauty of the mechanical movement.

Alethea & Art Magazine: You have your cooperation with Hodinkee. 

Carlo Giordanetti: Yes, the people from Hodinkee are watch lovers and watch experts. Every year they want to explore the design possibilities and the beauty of SISTEM 51 - because they understand exactly what value a mechanical watch has for this generation.

Alethea & Art Magazine: Where do you see the brand in 5 years? 

Carlo Giordanetti: That's a very good question. The brand will continue to have the mission and enjoy the challenge of surprising the market and always coming up with unexpected ideas that generate strong emotions. That is the beauty of Swatch. 

It's not just the storytelling, but the emotional connection it can make in its relationship with the market. I mention here at Christmas Swatch X Peanuts collection, last year in April the BIOCERAMIC launch - now the Masterpieces of Art. These are all themes that create an emotional relationship with the audience. That will continue to be our task in the future. 

Of course there will be new products coming into the stores, certainly there will be new innovative materials - probably the language of the times will evolve - we will continue to be aware of the responsibility to be the provocative brand. 

Our mission is to be unexpected - so it's difficult to say what we should expect.

Alethea & Art Magazine: CEO Nick Hayek said that 2022 will be a record year, after a 1/3 drop in sales in 2020 because of Corona. To what do you attribute that? 

Carlo Giordanetti: We started the year very positively with the CLEAR collection that was launched in January - it was a wonderful statement - everyone's need to start fresh, clean and pure.

This collection was also a tribute to our own language. In February we launched the new declination of colours for BIOCERAMIC, which was also very close to the willingness to be outside in nature. As you can see, we always want to touch that emotional moment. 

Now the connection with art and the Centre Pompidou will be a strong moment. We can say that people have a very positive connection with Swatch, they understand our will to bring something new and fresh to the market. 

We very much hope that what Mr. Nick Hayek said will come true and we are putting all our energy into it. 

Alethea & Art Magazine: Everything seems to be coming to fruition much faster now. How fast are you in translating trends into a watch? 

Carlo Giordanetti: Yes, our speed of adapting to trends has changed. We have new technologies - a programme called Swatch X You, which allows us to react to new technologies and new trends. 

Within the Swatch Group there is also production - the factories are becoming more flexible, faster and more efficient, and we all work as one team - the brand and the factory are one. The commitment and inspiration of the top management - the whole company is aware of Swatch's responsibility, very dynamic and ready to anticipate. 

Alethea & Art Magazine: Thank you very much for the interview.

The interview was conducted by Claudia Mauer

11. April 2022