Since it’s introduction in 2013 the Sistem 51 has been a watch (or collection) that captured my attention. I cajoled a friend at the time to mule one from Switzerland as they were not yet available elsewhere (that’s the white one you see below).
Most of you will know the development of the watch and the process of manufacturing it led to the application of 17 patents for Swatch. Manufacturing is entirely automatic.
The movement is one of simplicity, something which is appealing to many of us and something which drove much of the success of Ochs und Junior, the MIH watch and others. The Sistem 51 has only 51 components, pretty cool. And a single central screw that holds the whole thing together.
The downside is as the movement is hermetically sealed, it was never intended to be serviced. It’s a disposable good essentially, although having had my first one for almost 7 years it seems to be doing OK and product life seems reasonable (based on my sample size!).
For me it’s a collection within a collection, of which some of you know is a feature of my collecting.
Anyone else own a Sistem 51? More than one?
Here’s the rest of the bunch.