Watches

Swatch’s Latest Collaboration Is a Work of Art

The brand’s Guggenheim collaboration puts Monet, Degas, Klee, and Pollock on your wrist for around $100.

Published

6 hours ago

January 21, 2026

Tanya Dukes

Swatch’s Latest Collaboration Is a Work of Art

Clockwise from top: Pollock's "Alchemy," Degas' "Dancers in Green and Yellow," Monet's "The Palazzo Ducale," and Klee's "The Bavarian Don Giovanni."

THE MOST RAREFIED TIERS of elite watchmaking produce complicated mechanical masterpieces that few can afford (including money-is-no-object collectors), thanks to a combination of scarcity and six-figure-plus price tags. But on the other end of the spectrum, there’s a Swiss watch brand with a more egalitarian spirit that is plenty sought after in its own right — lines outside its boutiques in anticipation of new drops aren’t uncommon.

Since its founding in 1983, Swatch has generated excitement and attracted collectors with its happy-go-lucky design and prices that are eminently affordable. With the Swatch x Guggenheim collection, details from works held in the collections of two of the world’s preeminent art museums adorn four just-launched quartz timepieces: Paul Klee’s “The Bavarian Don Giovanni,” Monet masterpiece “The Palazzo Ducale, Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore,” and Degas’ “Dancers in Green and Yellow” from the Guggenheim New York City and multicolored spatters from Jackson Pollack’s canvas “Alchemy,” part of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy. Their prices ($115 or $105 ) don’t require a top one-percenter’s net worth, which is precisely the point.

Note of Irreverence

Since its founding, Swatch injected a note of irreverence into the tradition-bound Swiss watch industry and gave the country its own counterpart to the Japanese-made quartz watches that were proliferating at the time. (The brand’s name alludes to its ability to serve as a “second swatch,” something not-too-serious that serves as a playful accessory.)

The Swatch x Guggenheim collaboration is the latest chapter in what the brand refers to as its Art Journey, a project that connects Swatch and arts institutions and artists’ estates. Previously, the brand has worked with institutions like London’s Tate Modern, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat to democratize high culture through the medium of watches. Committing a globally famous work of art requires more than selecting a sliver of canvas to reproduce, then cutting and pasting it onto a strap and dial.

According to Vivian Stauffer, who joined the brand in 2025 and helped shepherd the project to completion (it was underway for months before his tenure at the brand began, “It’s not easy when you have a big peace of of art, to reduce it to keep the spirit and essence of the art piece within in something that is quite limited in terms of surface. We can’t just reduce it.” Swatch worked closely with the Guggenheim to select works from its collections for the watches and to finalize their designs.

“Normally it takes at least a full year between creative people—the watch designer, curatorial team,” to bring a collaboration to fruition, according to Stauffer. Sharing the work of some of the 20th century’s greatest artistic visionaries seems like time well spent.

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