The arrival of Swatch Pay and the new Swatch Sistem 51 Hodinkee LE
When Christmas approaches and people start looking for alternatives for gifts, Swatch gives a hand with the introduction of some interesting news. Let us start with the European market as the offers are limited geographically and are not currently available for the global market.
In Europe and we emphasize here that it is not for the whole of Europe, Swatch has just launched Swatch Pay, it is perhaps the most interesting novelty from a technological point of view, as it combines versatility with utility, this new technology allows you to make payments through “Contactless” allowing payments of up to € 50 (at least for Portugal) without entering a pin by simply approaching the watch to the payment terminal. It has the great advantages of not needing a battery and not having to be connected to the internet as with Smartphones, being waterproof and even allowing through the App to temporarily or permanently enable and disable debit, credit and prepaid cards associated, blocking in case of theft and banking movement made. To activate this payment feature, you only need to have a bank account at the participating institutions (in Portugal it is only available at CGD, a launch partner, but as of January it should already be available at other bank entities) and go to one of the stores that make the activation service available and then just use it.
Swatch Pay is launched in different models, being available in 15 different models, which may vary depending on the different countries (in Portugal only 5 models are available), however, the variety of colours and format is wide and should cover the tastes of the majority, as Swatch has always used us.
This watch was first launched in China in 2017, having been launched in Switzerland in 2019 and now reaching 6 more countries, including Austria, Germany, Holland, Poland, Portugal and Russia. So, if you are a resident of any of these countries you already know that you can acquire one of these new Swatch Pay.
The price of this new watch is expected to vary between € 85 and € 105 and may change slightly depending on the different countries.
But the news does not stop here and if Europe was pleased with the launch of Swatch Pay, the United States was awarded a new version of the Swatch Sistem 51, in partnership with Hodinkee, this is the new Swatch Sistem51 Hodinkee Generation 1990. This new model features a rich green case and bracelet and a navy-blue textured dial with some small pink details. The watch features a California dial with Roman numerals on the upper half of the dial and Arabic numerals on the lower half of the dial, an inverted triangle at 12 o’clock and batons at 3 and 9 o’clock and at 6 o’clock a small round date window.
In terms of movement, the watch features an automatic movement, which equips all Swatch Sistem 51 models and which is the main feature of this Swatch line. This watch comes with an impressive 90 hours of power reserve and the usual 30 meters of water resistance. The movement can be seen through the glass of the case back and where it is also possible to observe some details with the “H” pattern as Hodinkee’s signature.
This new model called the 90 generation, refers first to the fact that Swatch introduced its first mechanical model in 1991 and second that the California dial was inspired by its “Stirling Rush GX407” model launched in 1990.
The watch is on sale at a price of $ 170 with free shipping charges for the domestic market and reduced shipping charges for the international market. This is a limited edition, but information on how many units were produced was not made available and therefore we advise interested parties not to delay as these watches usually do not last long.
Final considerations, the Swatch Pay model is very interesting, for those who do not like to wear gear like wallet, mobile phone, cards, besides being a great solution for beach days when we don’t have to worry about money or getting wet. It also seems to be an excellent option for kids not to carry money, and if the problem is the amount they can spend, remember that it can be associated with a prepaid card and then you can have the full control. Regarding the Sistem 51 Hodinkee Generation 1990, we loved it, it is perhaps one of the most beautiful ones produced in collaboration with Hodinkee, the colour combination is very well achieved and the California dial fits like a glove. All models seem to be good Christmas gift options.
