One of the most powerful and influential ideas to emerge from Hollywood over the past half-century is the concept of toy design. In practice, toy design involves creating characters, settings, locations, and even entire films or series intended to sell as many products and toys as possible. While the concept of toy-ness has dominated blockbuster cinema for several decades, toy thinking extends far beyond entertainment. Intentionally or not, NASA's spacecraft and equipment have long been prime examples of toy design.
The bright whites, vivid colors, high-tech materials, and futuristic shapes used in NASA equipment make these machines perfect candidates for toys (one of my favorite childhood toys was a plastic model of the space shuttle Endeavour with astronauts). Swatch has leveraged NASA's vibrant and toy-like style to create a new playful series of lightweight watches with cases made from an advanced bioceramic material, initially developed for space exploration. The new Swatch Space Collection, including the Swatch Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular, Swatch Big Bold Chrono Launch, and Swatch Big Bold Jumpsuit models, combines vibrant and fun toy-like space aesthetics with futuristic cases, creating a bright and unique tribute to NASA equipment.
All three models in the Swatch Space Collection start with an imposing 47mm case made from the brand's unique bioceramic material. Made from a blend of traditional ceramics and organic plastic derived from castor beans, the matte material is impressively lightweight, smooth, and soft to the touch, feeling premium on the wrist despite its affordable price. There is nothing hard or plastic-like in the material, and the weight of the material combined with the quartz movements in the Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular and Big Bold Chrono Launch models gives these watches an almost unbelievable lightness that contrasts with the bold case sizes.
The 47mm diameter of these three models is also somewhat deceptive in terms of wrist comfort. There's no denying that all three models are large, but the wearing experience is far from overwhelming, thanks to the steep downward curve of the short four-sided lugs, the tapering strap that smoothly transitions into the case, and, most importantly, the bowl-shaped inward slope of the case sides towards the wrist. This smooth, organic curve makes the bezel the widest point of the case and limits the actual area the watch occupies on the wrist. The narrow smooth blue bezel of the Big Bold Jumpsuit model helps further compress the design on the wrist, while the pretzel-shaped bezels of the chronographs give these models a slightly more imposing presence.
The use of brightly colored bioceramics is a cornerstone of the Swatch Space Collection's appearance, setting the tone for the series and referencing three of NASA's most iconic uniforms. The simple crowns of all three models and the wide pushers in bright red and blue enhance the vibrant toy-like feel of the overall design, adding intense contrast to the main case. In terms of color, the Swatch Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular feels like the "hero" of the collection, as its stark white, red, and blue color scheme references the pure white EVA suits worn by NASA astronauts during spacewalks since 1983. This instantly recognizable space-themed color combination is a versatile element that can be paired with various everyday outfits. The Big Bold Chrono Launch model, on the other hand, represents a wilder and darker alternative.
The sky-gray main case, intense signal-orange bezel, and bold red and blue accents - this color combination demands attention under any circumstances. The inspiration here came from the long-known NASA "pumpkin suit" form used by astronauts for space launches. Finally, the Big Bold Jumpsuit model has a deeper, slightly more restrained look with an optical white main case and blue bezel. Less aggressive than its chronograph siblings, the Big Bold Jumpsuit took stylistic cues from the jumpsuits used by NASA astronauts for various ground tasks - from press conferences to daily work on-site. All three models in the Swatch Space Collection have a limited water resistance of 30 meters.
All three dials in the Swatch Space Collection have the same basic layout, including trapezoidal printed indices and pointed ladder-style hands. Naturally, the time-only Big Bold Jumpsuit model is the simplest of the three, with slightly muted red hour indices, white hands, and a translucent blue bioplastic dial that reveals much of the quartz gearing beneath it. The two chronograph models add a playful sci-fi atmosphere with their sub-dials featuring circular indices cut by the outer ring. However, it is the chronograph's central seconds hand that steals the show. Instead of launching the chronograph at the "12 o'clock" position, it starts at the "10 o'clock" position, with the outer seconds hand reserved for a 10-second countdown to zero, followed by the word "Liftoff." This fun and amusing nod to space travel gives the design a unique personality, but in practice, this playful element has functional implications.
During the review, I often found myself mentally adding 10 seconds to the chronograph readings, and while it works well as an innovative touch, it must be said that readability suffers somewhat as a result. The translucent ring crossing the silver dial of the Big Bold Chronograph Launch model creates additional readability issues, cutting through all three sub-dials and making parts of the scales hard to discern at a glance. The matte white dial of the Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular, by contrast, offers excellent legibility and a vibrant character with red, blue, and orange traffic cone accents. However, due to its flat surface, the Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular may appear somewhat flat from certain angles.
All three models in the Swatch Space Collection are equipped with Swiss quartz movements. While the brand does not provide details about the exact lineage of these movements, they operate reliably with the typical accuracy of quartz movements.
For straps, all three models in the Swatch Space Collection use lightweight and flexible semi-integrated silicone straps. The tapering width and thickness of these straps beautifully echo the lines of the case, and the elasticity allows the lightweight design to remain comfortable on the wrist. Swatch continues the bold color schemes here: the Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular uses an optically white strap with red and blue keepers, while the Big Bold Chrono Launch and Big Bold Jumpsuit use orange and blue straps, respectively. Each strap is adorned with a printed NASA emblem on the 12 o'clock side, making the collaboration aspect subtly noticeable on the wrist.
Ultimately, the Swatch Space Collection watches - Swatch Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular, Swatch Big Bold Chrono Launch, and Swatch Big Bold Jumpsuit - combine new futuristic materials, a playful toy-like nod to the space program, and surprising comfort with Swatch's signature light-hearted and adventurous design approach to create a fun and entertaining series of tribute watches. All three models are already available at select Swatch stores priced at $125 USD for the Swatch Big Bold Jumpsuit, $160 USD for the Swatch Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular, and $165 USD for the Swatch Big Bold Chrono Launch. More information can be found on the brand's website.
Essential Data
>Brand: Swatch
>Models: Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular, Big Bold Chrono Launch, Big Bold Jumpsuit
>Price: $125 (Big Bold Jumpsuit), $160 (Big Bold Chrono Extravehicular), $165 (Big Bold Chrono Launch)
>Size: 47mm width
>When a reviewer might personally wear them: When visiting science centers or museums, as a casual weekend accent, or anytime something light-hearted and fun is needed.
>Friends to whom we would recommend them first: Space and science geeks, as well as young enthusiasts looking for their first Swatch watch.
>Best feature of the watch: Bright, playful, toy-like design, comfortable silicone straps, durable and lightweight space-age ceramic case, extremely affordable price.
>Worst feature of the watch: The dial printing may seem a bit flat and cheap, the large case diameter is likely to cause division among enthusiasts, the countdown mechanics in the chronograph models may impact functionality.