Swatch × Philips

Announced April 17, 1986 on the Swatch stand at the Basel watch fair, the GK150 was the first Swatch that did not go on a wrist. Ernst Thomke wanted proof that the welded, transparent, cheap-to-make logic of the Jelly Fish could hold a motor. Philips sent the twin rotary head, motor, gears and thumb slide from Drachten; the clear cases were welded at ETA in Grenchen on the same ultrasonic presses as the watches, and the two halves met in a single box.

There are no screws. The body is two halves of clear polycarbonate welded shut, and the only way in is the oval hatch in the base, turned a quarter with a coin exactly like the back of a watch. Käti Durrer asked for white nylon gears and red and black motor leads so the inside read like a wiring diagram. Drachten spent six months arguing that nobody wanted to watch their stubble collect, and won a smoked grey head chamber. Everything below it is clear.

The fluorescent frame is POP Swatch, launched that same spring: the shaver presses into it and a chrome spring clip on the back takes a belt, a jacket pocket or a bag strap. Yellow, cyan and pink were offered. The yellow glowed under club ultraviolet, and Swatch put this in the press kit as a feature.

The Dutch trade press called it a toy that shaved properly, which Philips framed. The clear box printed the part count, 33, against the watch's 51, and the instructions came on a strip folded to the width of a watch strap. The red brush is standard Philips issue; it is the only part with no Swatch input whatsoever.