In my lifetime, two of the most memorable affordable fashion watches to me are Alba (early 80s) and Swatch (late 80s) and I remember gawking at them on some friends’ wrists back in school. Both brands produced funky and colorful timepieces that are fun to wear. My parents did not get me an Alba back in grade school but they gifted me with my very first Swatch in high school. I think this is where my love and addiction for watches started and up to today, I haven’t stopped collecting them.
To date, I own 24 timepieces, not counting those that I handed down to my mom because in reality, I couldn’t use them all. And even though I have moved on to buying branded/pricier ones, I still got excited when I learned about the new kid on the fashion watch block called SWAP.
My eyes lit up as I gazed at the colorful array of interchangeable watch faces and straps of SWAP at its launch last month at the Glorietta Activity Center
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| The SWAP launch event stage in Glorietta |
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| Displays at the SWAP launch |
SWAP watches currently has 30 colors of straps and 22 watches faces (9 plain and 13 graphic) you can choose from and wear depending on your mood and fashion statement for the day. All SWAP watches have stainless steel case back, are 3atm water resistant, hypoallergenic silicone strap and come with a one year warranty on its Japan
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| SWAP Classic and Solid watch faces |
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| SWAP Graphic watch faces and colored silicone straps |
A SWAP watch face costs P500 each while the silicone strap costs P350 but they have a Starter Kit that comes with 2 silicone straps and a watch face of your choice for only P1,000.
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| SWAP Starter Kit |
At the launch, SWAP announced that every month, a new theme of exciting graphic watch face designs such as sports, movies, characters, superheroes, places and even fashion patterns and trends will be made available. For the straps, a new batch of colors will be introduced quarterly.
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| SWAP campaign hashtag |
All SWAP watches are now available in Tomato Stores and SWAP exhibits in various malls in Metro Manila. You may also order through the Tomato Online Store at www.tomato.ph, which by the way has a Customer Service Live Chat Application that you can use to inquire or complain about their products. I’ve tried this when I discovered at home that the watch face I got from the event has a scratch on it and their customer service representative was friendly and efficient that I was able to have the replacement the following day from one of their stores.
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| My SWAP purple strap plus Mirror and Instagram watch faces |
Finally, if you wish to decide on which colored strap and watch face to buy before going to their store or exhibits, visit their online visualizer at http://www.tomato.ph/SwapMeBaby. Mag #SWAPkana!