watches Irish Tatler

First look at Swatch x Tate collaboration

Jessie Collins
March 21, 2024

Swatch has partnered with the world-famous Tate galleries to create a brand-new range of watches. The Swatch x Tate Gallery Collection features famous artwork by Turner, Chagall and Matisse among others. ‘We are thrilled to be partnering with Swatch,” says Hamish Anderson, CEO of Tate Enterprises, “and collaborating with a like-minded organisation to create a series of watches that bring Tate’s rich and diverse collection to an ever-wider audience.”

In 2018, Swatch partnered with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum to create a limited edition line of Swatches featuring famous artworks from the Dutch museum. In the same year, the Van Gough Museum partnered with the streetwear brand Vans while COS partnered with The Guggenheim Museum in the past. The V&A meanwhile has had several successful brand collaborations including with the luxury British lingerie line Coco de Mer.

Displaying Turner’s mastery of light and colour, this watch features a calendar wheel that evolves with the sun, shifting hues gradually and animating the artist’s beautiful portrayal of a sunset.
Displaying Turner’s mastery of light and colour, this watch features a calendar wheel that evolves with the sun, shifting hues gradually and animating the artist’s beautiful portrayal of a sunset.

This new collection's key pieces include Turner’s Scarlet Sunset featuring the famous painting by JMW Turner – often described as ‘the father of modern art’ – with his famous unique brushwork and use of colour displayed throughout the whole watch. On the dial, there is a calendar wheel, with the sun changing colour across a 14-day period until the cycle begins again. Known as an early modernist, Chagall’s Blue Circus meanwhile, with its vivid and vibrant blues features across a strap and dial. A moon and an eye balanced on the ends of the hands bring a nod to the painter's love of the dynamism of the acrobats to life. Elsewhere, the painting Women and Bird in the Moonlight by Joan Miró, a Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist whose distinctive style was influenced by Surrealism and other art movements of the era is placed across a dial and strap. Indexes are printed on the glass to add depth and dimension.

Matisse helped revolutionise the visual arts in the early 1900s, from painting to paper collage. This watch features his famous snail cut-outs across the dial and transparent strap in a spiral of vivid colour.
Matisse helped revolutionise the visual arts in the early 1900s, from painting to paper collage. This watch features his famous snail cut-outs across the dial and transparent strap in a spiral of vivid colour.
Léger was known for his avant-garde spirit which is mirrored in this colourful watch. The vivid strap and dial capture the essence of Cubism and the artist's exploration and celebration of shape.
Léger was known for his avant-garde spirit which is mirrored in this colourful watch. The vivid strap and dial capture the essence of Cubism and the artist's exploration and celebration of shape.
On the strap of Chagal’s Blue Circus edition an acrobat balances on her trapeze while a moon and an eye are balanced on the watch hands.
On the strap of Chagal’s Blue Circus edition an acrobat balances on her trapeze while a moon and an eye are balanced on the watch hands.

The full collection which also includes pieces featuring Matisse’s Snail, Léger’s Two Women Holding Flowers, Barns-Graham’s Orange And Red On Pink and Bourgeois’s Spirals is available in Swatch stores worldwide and on swatch.com from March 21, as well as in Tate’s gallery shops and on shop.tate.org.uk.

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