Hands-On with the Swatch SISTEM 51 Black
Launched at Baselworld 2013, the Sistem 51 has been the most talked about sub $1000 watch I can remember. What is so special about it? As the name suggests, it has only 51 parts. A single screw holds the movement together. The movement is made of a synthetic, anti-magnetic material called ARCAP. There are 19 jewels and the power reserve is 90-hours. The automatic winding rotor is the peripheral type, so you barely even notice it. Uniquely, everything is made and assembled by machine. There are 17 patents pending for the process. It’s 100% made in Switzerland. There are four versions of the Sistem 51: white, black (shown), translucent blue and translucent red. The dial symbolizes the Copernican Revolution, which Swatch relates to this revolutionary process for producing a mechanical watch (and maybe also as an homage to the Swatch
