MANILA, Philippines - Sistem51 — so amazing it gets its very own stores all over the world. In the Philippines, the first Sistem51 Pop-Up store debut was at the Swatch & Swatch building at 918 Arnaiz Avenue, San Lorenzo Village. Today, the Sistem51 Pop-Up stores have been rolled out at SM Aura, SM Megamall, and before Christmas, SM Mall of Asia.
There has been a big buzz about this revolutionary Swatch. The Sistem51 is a perfect gift to give, have or share this holiday season.
Upon first gaze, Sistem51 looks like a normal Swatch. Turn it over and the underbelly of the timepiece presents a transparent case back with a mesmerizing, close-to-hypnotic design.
It is not the normal battery or quartz Swatch we have all been accustomed to. Instead, it reveals an automatic state-of-the-art movement. Sistem51 is an automatic watch, meaning no battery is required for the watch to work. It only has to be placed on someone’s wrist, and the normal body movement powers it up.
The watch uses only 51 components, while other automatic watches use more than double that number; hence the name, Sistem51. The manufacturing of the watch is done entirely by highly engineered machines in Switzerland so no human hands ever touch the parts — part of its innovative engineering. The watch is Swiss-made and features in-house developed movement that took two years to create from scratch. The process of building the Sistem51 required highly complex manufacturing innovations that led to such an incredible simple movement.
Its genius, as mentioned, is that it’s made up of only 51 parts. These parts are spread around five modules and linked to one another by only one central screw. Lasers are also used to shave material from the components to achieve perfect balance and accuracy. These components are made of synthetic and anti-magnetic materials, essentially having no reason to deregulate. Such innovations — the bridges and plates — are made up of ARCAP, materials used in expensive timepieces. The main advantage of the ARCAP is that it is anti-magnetic in nature and not sensitive to temperature changes.
The Sistem51 movement has an equivalent of a three-day or 90-hour power reserve, versus the normal 42 hours most automatic watches have. The ring-like design of the Sistem51 rotor never hides the view of the technical elements of the watch that is also equipped with a single barrel.
The entire collection comes with celestial patterns on the dial inspired by astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. The red dots on the dial represent six of the jewels and the white dots, the weld points of the movement. The date window located at 3 o’clock sits very well with the dial design. Sistem51 is available in four cool variations: blue case with a black dial, red case with a black dial, a full black edition in leather strap and a full white edition with pops of color.
Sistem51 is definitely an important piece for watch collectors to have in their stash. It is affordable for those who want to get into mechanical watches. The materials used, the engineering effort in using only 51 parts on the automatic caliber, and the way it is assembled makes Sistem51 a historic timepiece. It won’t be a surprise if these Swatch innovations will be used on the other watch brands under the Swatch Group.
Sistem51 is also available at Swatch Shops in SM Megamall, Glorietta 1, Greenbelt 5, TriNoma, Alabang Town Center, Marquee Mall, Pampanga, SM Mall of Asia, SM City North EDSA, Greenhills V-Mall, Shangri-La Plaza, Robinsons Place, Ermita, Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall, Festival Mall, Ayala Center, Cebu, and SM City Cebu.
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