Swatch launches OpenAI tool for custom watches, fully automated production
Swatch just launched an OpenAI-driven design portal where you can doodle a watch on your phone and watch it appear without a single human hand touching a component. You pick dial size, strap texture, dial hue and the system feeds those choices straight into a fully robotic factory floor - something that used to need a bespoke workshop. The idea sounds great, but the reality is a bit messier.
Swatch churns out more than three million watches a year, and the flood of orders the new tool has sparked already seems to be stretching that capacity. The front-end looks slick, yet the back-end is a maze of automated stations that now have to keep up with an unexpected surge of interest. Powder and pigments come from Swatch Group subsidiaries, as do the movements, and the whole line from parts to final assembly is automated.
Still, even with all that tech, the company appears to be lagging behind demand for the newly customizable pieces.
The powder and pigments are made separately by Swatch Group subsidiaries, as are the watch movements. Even though every element of the process all the way to final assembly is completely automated, Swatch, which makes more than 3 million watches a year, has not been able to keep up with demand for "vanilla" MoonSwatches across its 100-plus bricks and mortar locations worldwide. And now it sells some of them online, too.
But it's that extrusion process that's the manufacturing bottleneck, and where Swatch has invested in new machines to clear the physical queues outside stores and backlog of customer interest. This being the case, it's hard to see how such a intricate production line, combining elements from multiple companies and locations within the Swatch world, would be able to start producing truly "bespoke", personalized MoonSwatches where each individual piece is unlike any other. Hayek exclusively tells me there is hope for customized MoonSwatches in the future.
We will see when we have a lot of requests from consumers, because we listen to consumers," he says. "We had a success [with MoonSwatch] and we are always thinking further--and there might be this way to reflect it also. Because it's all our own companies, there's no problem." Hayek is prepared to confirm that other Swatch models will in the future be added to the AI-DADA offering, along with the launch style of New Gent.
Swatch claims the new AI-powered tool can dream up a design, pick the right pigments and even put the watch together without a human touching it. The earlier Swatch x You experiment only gave a few preset patterns that users could spin, zoom and slap onto a 41 mm New Gent case. This version leans on OpenAI’s language and image models, offering layout suggestions on the fly.
Powder, pigments and movements still arrive from different Group subsidiaries, and the whole line runs on fully automated equipment. Swatch churns out more than three million watches a year, yet some reports say the customized orders are outpacing supply. It’s hard to say if the AI-driven process can scale quickly enough to match shopper demand.
The firm certainly believes in the automation, but without clear throughput numbers the real impact remains fuzzy. As the service rolls out, we’ll be watching to see whether order-fulfilment times actually improve.
Further Reading
- You Might Be One Step Closer to Designing Your Own MoonSwatch Thanks to AI - Esquire
- Papers with Code - Latest NLP Research - Papers with Code
- Hugging Face Daily Papers - Hugging Face
- ArXiv CS.CL (Computation and Language) - ArXiv
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Common Questions Answered
How does Swatch's new OpenAI‑powered design portal create a custom watch without human intervention?
The portal lets users sketch a watch on their phone, then feeds choices like dial size, strap texture, and hue into Swatch's fully robotic factory floor. OpenAI’s language and image models generate the design in real time, while automated systems match pigments and assemble the watch without any human hands touching the components.
What production challenges does Swatch face despite its fully automated manufacturing process?
Even though every step—from powder and pigment creation to movement assembly—is automated, Swatch struggles to meet demand for its standard "vanilla" MoonSwatches across more than 100 brick‑and‑mortar stores. The extrusion process, which forms the watch cases, remains a bottleneck that limits how quickly the company can scale output.
In what ways does the new OpenAI tool differ from the earlier Swatch x You platform?
The Swatch x You platform offered only a handful of preset patterns that users could rotate, zoom, and place on a 41 mm New Gent case. By contrast, the new OpenAI‑driven service uses language and image models to suggest entirely new layouts in real time, allowing far greater personalization beyond the limited preset options.
Are the materials used in the custom watches still sourced from Swatch Group subsidiaries?
Yes, the powder, pigments, and watch movements continue to be produced by separate Swatch Group subsidiaries. Although the design and assembly steps are fully automated, the raw components still originate from the same internal supply chain as the company's conventional watches.