The Swatch love affair with art started in 1985, developing into a long line of Art Special watches. Swatch celebrates the world’s greatest artists by adapting their works to be worn on the wrist. Continuing the Swiss watchmaker’s Art Journey Series, Swatch is set to release seven new designs in collaboration with MoMa, Magritte, Le Gallerie Degli Uffizi, and Louvre Abu Dhabi. 

Swatch has once again teamed up with Moma, this time honouring American pop-artist Roy Lichtenstein in two striking timepieces. The watches blend the artist’s comic style art and single-colour Benday dots with the playfulness of Swatch.

To mark the 125th anniversary of Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte’s birth, two watches take his most famous paintings and translate them into wearable masterpieces for the wrist. The collaboration includes two of the artists most influential works, ‘Le Fils de L’Homme’ and ‘La Trahison des Images’.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is the next museum featured in the collaboration. The iconic ‘Great Wave Off Kanagawa’ by Katsushika Hokusai, part of the iconic Japanese series ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’, is transformed into a unique timepiece. The power of the cresting wave is splashed across the entirety of the watch in swirling blues and foaming white.

Finally, the Art Journey takes on the rich collection of two Renaissance masterpieces of the renowned Le Gallerie degli Uffizi. The final two timepieces embody the works of Sandro Botticelli.

‘Allegoria Della Primavera’ is a painting inspired by nature, featuring 138 different species of plants. The wearable iteration of the masterpiece features a strap of Flora, goddess of flowers, wild strawberries, violets, and myrtle, among citrus trees — a timeless tribute to nature and beauty.

Botticelli’s ‘Nascita Di Venere’ is the second painting of the renowned artist to feature in the collaboration. On the dial are the gods of winds, Zephyr and breeze, who gently drive Venus towards the shore while her unmistakably beautiful face and pink roses cover the strap.

The Swatch x MOMA and Swatch x Magritte watches will become available in Swatch stores and online from March 16, followed by the collaborations with Louvre Abu Dhabi and Le Gallerie degli Uffizi on April 13.

Words by Patrick Boyle