The new Swatch Sistem51 could potentially draw away interest from the Apple Watch due to its low price.
The Apple Watch is very expensive, with the price of the cheapest version starting from $349 and then going up all the way to $12,000. In addition, the device has received criticism for being difficult to read, uncomfortable, and too complicated for daily use.
The Swatch Sistem51, however, only costs $150, which would already draw interest from customers simply looking for the next watch to strap around their wrists.
Slate is reporting that the new watch by Swatch could potentially pose as a challenge for Apple, starting from the low price of the watch. In addition, the report even proclaims that the Swatch Sistem51 would "change everything."
The 100% Swiss-made Swatch Sistem51, while not a smartwatch, is tagged as a new product that could change the long-standing Swiss watch industry, even more so than the Apple Watch could. Compared to the Apple Watch, it is the exact opposite, with the Swatch Sistem 51 being simple but still featuring innovation as an automatic watch.
The Swatch Sistem51 gets its name due to its number of components, with the watch having only 51 components compared to the over 100, and sometimes even more that 300, components of a typical mechanical watch.
The watch is manufactured within clean-room conditions, leading to no disturbances in its inner components. Normal mechanical watches will require fine adjustments made by hand to ensure that its timekeeping components oscillate evenly, but the process in the Swatch Sistem51 is automated using a laser.
The Swatch Sistem51 never depletes its battery, as it draws power from the motions of the person that is wearing the watch. On a single winding, the watch can last for up to 90 hours, while regular mechanical watches can last about 40 hours. The Apple Watch, on the other hand, can only last up to 18 hours.
All these factors of low price, simplicity and convenience contribute to making the Swatch Sistem51 an appealing purchase to young consumers, who may have rescinded in their intentions to make a big-ticket purchase such as the Apple Watch or for any fashion watch due to high prices.
A study on millennials revealed that the generation is spending most of their money technology products instead of on items such as accessories and apparel. While watches could fall in a shared category of technology and accessories, a survey on people aged 16 years old to 34 years old revealed that 60 percent no longer think of watches as a necessity in the age of smartphones, which could be why many have been hesitant to shell out hundreds of dollars for the Apple Watch.
While tech enthusiasts would still be leaning towards acquiring the Apple Watch for the possibilities that it could provide, average consumers may begin to gravitate towards simple products such as the Swatch Sistem51.
