Bond Villains Party With Crowd at Playful PLASTIC ROYALE by SWATCH

Bond Villains Party With Crowd at Playful PLASTIC ROYALE by SWATCH

BREGENZ, Austria, September 8/PRNewswire/ -- To celebrate 25 years of plastic and the launch of a provocative new line
of 'villainous' Swatch watches, Swatch founder Nicolas G. Hayek invited
hundreds of Swatch fans, special guests and journalists from around the world
to a spectacular multimedia party in Bregenz earlier this week. Guests
arriving at the PLASTIC ROYALE by Swatch found a huge "Once Again" - perhaps
the most famous of plastic Swatch watches and still very popular today -
mounted on the Bregenz Festival's Lake Constance stage.

At a press conference held the morning of the 8th of September, Mr.
Hayek, who inspired the creation of the world's first plastic watch some 25
years ago, led journalists from around the world through a retrospective
'history of plastic', showing highlights from 25 years at the top of the
Swiss fashion watch industry. Mr. Hayek also presented the first models in a
new line of plastic Swatch watches, the Swatch Plastic Chrono, a series of
bold, colourful and attractively priced sports watches for men and women.

One of the new Swatch Plastic Chrono models plays a role in the second
major piece of news announced to the festive crowd in Bregenz - the launch of
the new Swatch 007 Villain Collection. Each of the 22 Swatch watches in the
new collection evokes one or more of the memorable villains featured in the
22 James Bond movies made since Dr. No was released in 1962, and two special
guests were on hand to join the celebrations. Richard Kiel, who played the
metal-mouthed villain known as 'Jaws' in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker,
joined Mr. Hayek, accompanied by his colleague in cinematic crime, Mads
Mikkelsen, who played the notorious gambler 'Le Chiffre' in the recent smash
hit, Casino Royale. Bringing the two components of the PLASTIC ROYALE
celebration together, Mr. Hayek (nickname: 'Dr. Swatch') presented Swatch
watch number 22 of the Swatch 007 Villain Collection, a bold, black and white
Swatch Plastic Chrono dedicated to the villanous 'Mr. Greene' featured in
'Quantum of Solace', the 22nd Bond film, due for release within weeks in
cinemas everywhere.

Later in the day, the more than 500 guests of Swatch from more than 30
countries were given a guided tour of a remarkable exhibition of 250 Swatch
watches, many of which are rarely seen outside private collections. Together,
these unique combinations of advanced watchmaking technology, creative Swiss
design and avant-garde marketing tell the spectacular story of Swatch.
Exhibits run from the first plastic Swatch watches of 1983 to the new Swatch
Plastic Chrono collection.

A party to remember

Towards evening, guests on their way by ship to the Gala Dinner will be
'attacked' by a menacing crew of Swatch Villains, who arrive from nowhere in
two speedboats and a helicopter! Star Swatch ProTeam Outlaw Géraldine
Fasnacht, who will join the villainous crew, startle guests with a
breathtaking base jump from the chopper...

World-famous DJ Grandmaster Flash will warm up the crowd with a
sensational performance at the turntable. Australia's electrifying Midnight
Jaggernauts and Finland's notoriously entertaining Leningrad Cowboys drive
the crowd to the dance floor with a fantastic selection of recent hits along
with theme music and songs from James Bond films.

For further information, please visit
http://media.swatch.com/plasticroyale or contact the Swatch Press Office,
Katy Jolidon.

Press pictures for download at: http://www.photopress.ch/image/swatch

Contact:

Katy Jolidon
Tel.: +41-32-343-9728
E-Mail: katy.jolidon@swatch.com

Source: Swatch

Contact: Katy Jolidon, Tel.: +41-32-343-9728, E-Mail: katy.jolidon@swatch.com

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