1996
• Access to Space (1) : Swiss Astronaut Claude Nicollier blasts off on
a space mission, wearing a Swatch Access.

• Nam June Paik introduces his Swatch Art Special, Zapping, at his
New York studio; it is available for purchase only via the Internet -and
the Web-based Net Hunter Game.

• Annie Leibovitz photographs the following athletes for The Olympic
Legends, the third Olympic Collection: Said Aouita, Bob Beamon,
Gelindo Bordin, Sebastian Coe, Nadia Comaneci, Dan Jansen, Edwin
Moses, Mark Spitz, Daley Thomson and Katarina Witt.

• Katarina Witt becomes Swatch’s ambassador to the 1996 Olympic
Games in Allanta.

• Watch & Jewelry Exhibition in Turkey.

• Exhibition of the Swatch Artists Collection in Hong Kong.

• Fashion Show with the Swatch Spring/Summer Collection and Japan’s
top DJs at the Liquid Room in Tokyo.

• Swatch at the 24th Stramilano (2) in Milan; 50,000 people attend.

• The Vision Boarder Cross Tour 95/96, accompanied by Swatch.

• Life Ball at the Rathaus in Vienna, to benefit Aidshilfe an Aids serv-
ice organization in Austria. The person wearing the most creative ball
gown wins a trip to the 1996 Olyrnpic Games in Atlanta.

• European Beach Volleyball Championship hosted by Swatch and
O’Neill.

• Swatch Experience in Italy: 10,000 participants pedal and run their
way through 10 cities for the 1996 Olympics.

• Paulo Mendonça on tour in Japan.

• Launch of the Victory Ceremony Series (3) for Atlanta 1996, com-
prising three Irony models, Gold, Silver, Bronze.

• Launch of the Olympic Legends Collection in Milan.

• The 200-millionth Swatch is rnanufactured.

• 500 young athletes from 145 countries attend the «Atlanta 1996
Olyrnpic Youth Camp pre-sented by Swatch.»

• July 18: Nicolas G. Hayek carries the Olympic Flame (4) toward the
opening of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Swatch acts as Official
Timekeeper (5) for the first time; 500,000 people visit the Swatch
pavilion (6) in Centennial Olympic Park.

• Swatch will also serve as official timekeeper at the next two Paralympics.

• The Victory Ceremony Series raises DM 43,000 during a charity auc-
tion on SAT1.

• Swatch In-Line Beton at Königsee, Germany.

• Swatch International Rollerblade & In-Line Contest (7) at
Lausanne, Switzerland, featuring the top talent in the sport.

• State-of-the-art Telephone technology that meets pan-European
standards for wireless communications - the Swatch Cordless Phone
is presented at the CEBIT exhibition in Munich.


• Swatch is the main sponsor of the World Boardercross Tour
96/97 (8).

• The Swiss organization SCOS (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chrono-
mètres) honors the Swatch Time Cut (limited edition of 1500) with the
certificate of chronometer precision.

• Swatch becomes the official timekeeper of all FIS Alpine Ski World
Cup races during the 1996/97 winter season.

• The international Swatch The Club - all over the world is founded
in September, and the «Gold Members» category is created.

• Peter Gabriel’s Swatch MusiCall Adam is created, as a counterpart
to his CD-ROM entitled Eve.

• The Swatch Oracolo by Swiss artist Walter Wegmüller sets a «spir-
itual» tone.

• Travelers to Salzburg are offered a full-service package with hotels,
restaurants and concerts thanks to the Swatch Access to Salzburg.

• Swatch joins RTL in helping «Children in Need» and supports a
variety of projects with a new collection.

• Nicolas G. Hayek presides over the opening of the first Swatch
Mega-Store (9), on New York’s 5th Avenue.

• Launch of the Swatch Gold Medal by Michael Johnson at the open-
ing of the first Swatch store, in Venice, ltaly.

• The 1996 Swatch advertising slogan is «Keep in shape.»

• The Swatch Christmas Special, Light-Tree, inspires Swatch lovers
all over the world to create dazzling Christmas trees.

• Twenty new Swatch stores open worldwide.

• A gigantic Swatch, backed by half a million voices, counts down to
the New Year in New York City’s Times Square.