When it comes to artistic endeavours, few watch houses wear art on their wrist in the same fashion as Swatch. Its melding of high art and horology began shortly after its foundation in the mid-1980s, when Swatch collaborated with Kiki Picasso and Keith Haring for the first of its sell-out timepieces that combined artistic flair with accessible Swiss engineering. ‘We’ve been involved in the art world from the beginning and have always maintained that relationship – art has always been part of our DNA,’ explains Alain Villard, CEO of Swatch.

As it turns 40, 2023 is a milestone year for Swatch and the latest instalment of its Art Journey collection celebrates this long-running association with high art. The seven-piece range highlights some of art history’s most iconic works and is designed in tandem with the equally legendary museums that house them.

Arguably, the most vibrant of the line-up are the two Lichtenstein editions, incorporating the New Yorker’s trademark comic sketches, Girl and The Melody Haunts My Reverie. Just as bold and poppy as the original works, they are a fitting tribute to Lichtenstein’s legacy in the centenary of his birth.

The René Magritte models – which make the surrealist’s irreverent works, The Treachery of Images and his self-portrait, The Son of Man wrist ready – encapsulate the Belgian painter’s witty humour. Like the Lichtenstein editions, they also mark a significant moment in time – the 125th anniversary of Magritte’s birth.

For those of a more classical persuasion, the Botticelli Swatch x Le Gallerie Degli Uffizi Gent and larger New Gent models, which draw on the Florentine’s masterworks, The Allegory of Spring and The Birth of Venus, will appeal as perfectly proportioned tributes to the Renaissance.

The collection also voyages further east to Japan – by way of the Emirates – with Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa gracing the dial and strap for its Louvre Abu Dhabi edition. The reverse depicts an astrolabe, an ancient map of the universe used for plotting celestial movements and calculating the precise time.

This chapter of Swatch’s Art Journey project is the latest in a long line of sell-out alliances with giants of art and design, including Damien Hirst, Annie Leibovitz and Dame Vivienne Westwood and is set to be a hit in both the horology and high art worlds for its sense of playful whimsy that is pure Swatch. For Villard, the key to the success of these collaborations is that most artistic of concepts: a blank canvas.

‘We’ve always had a lot of consideration from the artists and museums in offering the flexibility for us to put our own stamp of identity on the watches,’ he explains. This poetic licence is evident throughout the collection, from the tongue-in-cheek slogans of the Magritte editions to the overblown flora and fauna of the Botticelli designs. The best part, of course, is that you don’t need the bank balance of a Guggenheim to wear a masterpiece on your wrist.

Swatch Art Journey 2023 collection, £82-£91; swatch.com