The Swatch Sistem51 collection centres its value proposition around two things the rest of the Swiss watch industry finds very much at odds — technical innovation and affordability. With the new Swatch Sistem51 Petite Seconde, we get both of those things in a classically dressed-up package, with the centre seconds of previous models moved to a sub-dial at six. After gaining global recognition as the Swiss answer to the quartz era, Swatch were limited by their own success for a period, as they only produced quartz-powered watches that were incredibly varied in style and relatively disposable in nature. This changed at Baselworld in 2013 when Swatch announced their Sistem51 technology, which made claims at being the first-ever mechanical watch that was totally machine made. The mechanical movement housed only 51 parts in total, boasted 90 hours of power reserve, and was built entirely in Switzerland by a series of machines along a conveyor belt. Despite the lack of human touch, the Sistem51 was also remarkably accurate, ticking along at an impressive +/- 7 seconds per day. Impressive because these watches are not regulated for accuracy by watchmakers, and are actually hermetically sealed, which has the benefit of keeping dust and moisture…
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