If in past decades Swatch relied on internationally renowned artists and architects to reinterpret its models, from today, thanks to its new “artistic intelligence” AI-Dada, it will address buyers directly, allowing them for the first time to become co-authors of the products they will wear.
The AI-Dada system, now online in Switzerland and soon in other countries, is a new AI-based platform that allows users to transform a creative prompt into a watch in less than two minutes, specifically a fully configured New Gent model, which can be further customized in technical details such as indexes or mechanism color.
The experience has been designed to be accessible, immediate, yet playful: everyone has three requests per day, a choice made by the Biel-based brand to encourage a healthy “creative challenge.” The AI generates a complete timepiece based on an artistic interpretation of the text input, drawing directly from the visual universe developed through years of creative collaborations. Every model created in this way will have the symbol “1/1” engraved on the case back, to underline that no watch is identical to another.
With AI-Dada, Swatch thus continues on a trajectory that has characterized its design vision for more than four decades, always open to hybridization with the world of art and design. Kiki Picasso, Keith Haring, Mimmo Paladino, Alfred Hofkunst, Mimmo Rotella, Renzo Piano, Arnaldo Pomodoro, as well as museum institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, the Maxxi and the Rijksmuseum can be counted among the many historic partnerships that have stood by the brand since 1983 in its renewal of the watchmaking industry.
The name AI-Dada captures this double heritage: “AI” as artistic intelligence; “Dada” as a direct reference to Dadaism, born in Zurich and devoted to subverting codes and conventions through provocation and humor. In this sense, the new system aims to establish itself as the technological continuation of a design approach that Swatch has always cultivated: transforming an accessory from something exclusive and static into something personal and communicative.
Domus has recounted this evolution several times, , recognizing in the brand the ability to capture the spirit of the times and integrate it into its products without losing immediacy or irony. This philosophy also links Swatch to the history of Italian design and the magazine itself: Alessandro Mendini, twice editor-in-chief of Domus, was chosen as art director for the Swatch Art Clock Tower project in 1990, later producing several Art Special watches and involving Bruno Munari in the limited series Free Time. It is no coincidence that the brand’s Milan flagship store, inaugurated in 2024, pays homage to Domus Gio Ponti, signaling the desire to continue engaging with the architectural and visual culture that has accompanied its growth.
Opening image: packaging AI-Dada Swatch.