It is obvious that there is a feature that makes Swatch different from all other watch brands. So what is this feature? Is it the looks, the colors, the plastic? Maybe it's the design or the Swiss made and the versatility to wear with almost any outfit. There is a Swatch suitable for people of all ages and for any activity. But Swatch is much more than just a marketplace. Swatch is an attitude, an approach to life, a perspective. The look of a Swatch stirs the emotions. Using a Swatch is a way to communicate, to speak without words. Heart to heart.

The story of Swatch is actually the story of a revolution. The sudden appearance of an affordable, Swiss-made plastic watch in 1983 turned the watchmaking world upside down. All of a sudden, the clock means much more than just measuring time. It was a new language; It was a form of speaking from the heart, without words. Swatch has become a watch, fun, a provocative expression, a smile presented with a small flick of the wrist. The revolution continues even after more than 30 years: Swatch speaks and everyone understands.

Known as the savior of the Swiss watch industry, Nicolas Hayek is a watch connoisseur who developed the world's most successful watch with the Swatch brand.

Born in Beirut (Lebanon), the son of an American dentist and a Lebanese mother, Hayek grew up in his mother's second home, Switzerland.

After graduating from high school, he studied mathematics, physics and chemistry at various universities in Switzerland, but could not complete his higher education. While still continuing his education, 21-year-old Hayek started working in the mathematics department of an insurance company.

After 1951, he gathered experience in various industrial enterprises and meanwhile also worked in his father-in-law's foundry and machinery construction company.

However, he soon wanted to become independent. He left the consulting firm he founded in 1957 with a partner in 1963. Two years later, Hayek Engineering AG, based in Meisterschwanden, near Zurich, was registered as a trader. His company specialized in drafting reorganization and rationalization plans.

The work that Nicolas Hayek has accomplished with the Swatch brand is a tremendous success story.

Everyone will remember a Japanese digital clock trend in the 1970s and 80s, the effects of which were also felt in Turkey. Black, plastic digital Watches! Brands like Casio, Stempo.

Working with quartz technology, these watches were both inexpensive and had a precision that no mechanical watch could match.

This technology, which enabled Japan to enter the watch industry effectively, put the Swiss in crisis the most at that time. Mechanical Swiss watches, known for their quality and precision, were perceived as old technology when compared to the precision of Japanese watches. Industry experts stated that due to the high labor costs in Switzerland, Swiss watches could not compete with cheap and precise Japanese watches, and they said that the collapse was inevitably approaching.

In this period when one of the most important branches of the Swiss economy is in such great danger,

Switzerland's famous UBS bank has made an agreement with a consultancy firm and wants an assessment of the problems of the two big Swiss watch manufacturers, and this consultant they agreed with is Hayek himself! Hayek, who started working on the subject, soon realized the real cause of the problem, which the Swiss could not see.

Hayek realizes that watch manufacturers focus on technology and only emphasize the quality of the watches in order to justify the high prices of the watches, without paying much attention to the expectations of the customers. Considering this to be a mistake, Hayek argues that manufacturers should focus their attention on customer expectations and the brand message of the watches, rather than pursuing an ideal of technology and quality they created. He plans this as follows: He draws a brand new path for the watch industry by saying that if we cannot win by going the simplest way, that is, by producing cheap and precise watches, we will pull the competition in another direction: By starting to use the quartz technology used by the Japanese, cheaper, simple but modern. begins to make colorful watches. He blends the English words Swiss (Swiss) and watch (watch) and establishes a company he calls Swatch.

At a time when everyone is looking for the solution in technology, it responds to the black and monotonous Japanese watches with beautiful designs and attractive colors.

It tries to show people the soullessness of digital watches and remind them of the romance of mechanical watches at a very cheap price.

Hayek takes a critical second step so that watch manufacturers can focus on the brand message rather than technology. Knowing that he could not save the watch industry with colorful, cheap watches alone, there was no single major group of the disorganized Swiss watch industry.

suggests that it should be merged under p. And he manages to get his offer accepted. With the pressure of Swiss banks, it manages to gather many companies, including expensive brands such as Blancpain, Omega, Breguet and Longines, into a single group called the Swatch Group.

Today, Swatch sells watches to millions of people every year without losing anything from its philosophy. It keeps the brand-customer relationship warm with its constantly new designs.

Nicolas Hayek passed away in 2010, today his son Jr. Hayek is the chairman of Swatch Group.