JAMES BOND
NEWS

To celebrate 25 years of plastic and the launch of a provocative new line of ‘villainous’ SWATCH watches, SWATCH founder Nicolas G. Hayek invited hundreds of SWATCH fans, special guests and journalists from around the world to a spectacular multimedia party in Bregenz on 8th September 2008.

Guests arriving at the PLASTIC ROYALE by SWATCH found a huge “Once Again”, perhaps the most famous of plastic SWATCH watches and still very popular today, mounted on the Bregenz Festival’s Lake Constance stage.

At a press conference held the morning of the 8th of September, Mr. Hayek, who inspired the creation of the world’s first plastic watch some 25 years ago, led journalists from around the world through a retrospective ‘history of plastic’, showing highlights from 25 years at the top of the Swiss fashion watch industry. Mr. Hayek also presented the first models in a new line of plastic SWATCH watches, the SWATCH Plastic Chrono, a series of bold, colourful and attractively priced sports watches for men and women.

One of the new SWATCH Plastic Chrono models plays a role in the second major piece of news announced to the festive crowd in Bregenz — the launch of the new SWATCH 007 Villain Collection. Each of the 22 SWATCH watches in the new collection evokes one or more of the memorable villains featured in the 22 James Bond movies made since Dr. No was released in 1962, and two special guests were on hand to join the celebrations. Richard Kiel, who played the metal-mouthed villain known as ‘Jaws’ in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, joined Mr. Hayek, accompanied by his colleague in cinematic crime, Mads Mikkelsen, who played the notorious gambler ‘Le Chiffre’ in the 2006 smash hit, Casino Royale. Bringing the two components of the PLASTIC ROYALE celebration together, Mr. Hayek (nickname: ‘Dr. SWATCH’) presented SWATCH watch number 22 of the SWATCH 007 Villain Collection, a bold, black and white SWATCH Plastic Chrono dedicated to the villainous ‘Mr. Greene’ featured in Quantum of Solace, the 22nd Bond film, due for release in November at cinemas everywhere.

Later in the day, the more than 500 guests of SWATCH from more than 30 countries were given a guided tour of a remarkable exhibition of 250 SWATCH watches, many of which are rarely seen outside private collections. Together, these unique combinations of advanced watchmaking technology, creative Swiss design and avant-garde marketing tell the spectacular story of SWATCH. Exhibits run from the first plastic SWATCH watches of 1983 to the new SWATCH Plastic Chrono collection.