Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)

Esther Montagner was among these de facto brand ambassadors, travelling the world on countless adventures with fearlessness and dedication, and building a lifelong community along the way.

“When we all started out as members collecting,” Montagner says, “it was like a group of free spirits who not only made the wave, but rode the wave to make Swatch so trendy that it took the world by storm as a collecting phenomenon.” Montagner began her collection humbly enough, picking out models she liked at local Swatch stores and keeping them under the bed—eventually, she recalls, she “heard ticking all night long because there were so many.” Then, in 1990, everything changed: Montagner attended her first-ever Swatch convention, an unofficial gathering held by Swatch-lovers in Santa Monica. She describes this experience as one of the veil being lifted, giving her a first glimpse of the burgeoning avalanche of Swatch collecting. It was here that she met June Berliner, a Swatch collector who co-founded the Los Angeles Swatch Club and, to this day, goes by “Swatchy June.” As Montagner explains, “[Swatchy June] took me under her wing and showed me what it took to be a real collector.”

“I became addicted to Swatch,” Montagner says, “and it really is like any other addiction. You get a rush, a feeling of bliss when you get one…The passion was taking over.” In 2000, Montagner officially became a member of the Gold and Pioneer Swatch Club, traveling to the company’s headquarters in Biel, Switzerland to meet Swatch progenitor Nicolas G. Hayek himself. “[Hayek] really appreciated us, and did everything he could to make our experience special” Montagner says, “He knew that he couldn’t pay for what we do as far as promoting [Swatch] with our enthusiasm and passion, much as influencers do today.”

Montagner would go on to travel extensively as a Swatch Club member, returning to Switzerland multiple times as well as attending events in London, Berlin, Paris, Venice, Madrid, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, and her native Southern California. Each trip brought new and rare Swatch models—Specials—as well as new experiences, from cooking over an open fire in the Alps to gambling with Sean Connery impersonators to visiting the CERN Hadron Collider. Many events were star-studded, and Club members rubbed elbows with famed actors, artists, athletes, and other cultural figures, from Bill Gates to artist Mark Kostabi. A painter herself, Montagner especially cherishes the opportunities she has had to meet and speak with other artists—and there were many; Swatch is famed for their myriad collaborations with not only visual artists, but film directors, musicians, and fashion designers.

“In no other circumstance would I have ever been in the same room with many of them, had it not been for Swatch—sophisticated, bright, fascinating, and such fun people.”

And while she certainly delighted in meeting famous people, Montagner deeply treasures the lasting friendships she made with her fellow Swatchers: “In no other circumstance would I have ever been in the same room with many of them, had it not been for Swatch,” she says, “Sophisticated, bright, fascinating, and such fun people…We are sort of like a fraternity, lifelong friends that started with Swatch, [and built relationships that] became personal, heartfelt and enduring.”

Every Swatch, autograph, pamphlet, poster, and t-shirt in Swatches: The Esther Montagner Collection comes with its own story, inextricably linked to the excitement and adventure that Swatch and Swatchers have together cultivated over decades. With gratitude to Esther Montagner, LAMA is proud to present this deep-dive into the legacy of Swatch and the cultural touchstones captured in these timepieces. As Swatch would put it, time is what you make of it.