New Old Stock 1999 Swatch ‘Jelly Stag’

A watch can bring with it a strong hit of nostalgia like few objects can. Swatch created the Jellyfish in 1983 and it was their largest success of the time. Notorious B.I.G., Keith Haring, and Damien Hirst were all fans of the design. Follow-up models, accessories, and whole decade of colorful semi-translucent Swatches flooded department stores everywhere. Despite their superfluous stock, most have been lost to time. Occasionally, a boxed NOS Swatch Jelly variant shows up. Today, we have one.

These watches are not what collectors tend to favor: quartz consumables intended to last five years. I like mechanical watches for their permanence. I like 80s Swatch designs for something different. They are little capsules of fun. Nothing else, just fun. Swatches are designed to be enjoyed for a short period of time. They are not designed to sit in a safe and collect appreciation. Amongst the rooms of guys wearing Pateks and Rolex at a red bar meetup, the guy wearing a Swatch is usually the one you’d want to talk to. There is no ego involved in this and that’s a rare thing in horology today.

This example is an NOS time capsule from 1999. Not many like this are kicking around anymore. I’d be surprised if it remained in the market for more than a few days. It comes from IG seller @longbeachwatchclub. If you’re like me and occasionally become a bitter over the dick-measuring aspect of vintage watches, do yourself a favor and leave the competition.

Find this Jelly Stag here from r/watchexchange for 240 USD.