Swatch Greenshift Glow: in review

An affordable quartz chronograph

When it comes to brands that many of us started out with from a department store or mall purchase, Swatch is definitely going to be a brand that comes up time and again. It’s for good reason: they’ve got a wide variety of designs, so there’s likely going to be one that appeals to your sense of style. Not only that, they’re fuss-free, affordable quartz models more often than not. We spent some time with some of their latest models, and today, we’re talking about the Swatch Greenshift Glow.

Swatch Greenshift Glow: what it is

If you’ve been looking at Swatch chronographs, the Greenshift Glow is going to look familiar, as it’s part of the Irony collection, which has quite a few chronograph options. In other words, it’s a tried-and-true platform and movement. What’s different and new here is going to be the color palette that is used.

While it’s called the Greenshift Glow, it’s a green hue that leans more towards the blue. Not so much that it would be called turquoise, but it’s definitely more blue. This works well with the teal accents for the indices and the partially-skeletonized handset. That color also continues on into the integrated rubber strap, cementing the overall hue. For the chrono subdials, those are done in a textured black, with simple, polished hands.

Wearing the watch

Once the watch is set, it’s as fuss-free as you’d expect any quartz watch to be. Other than the occasional adjustment of the date display for months shorter than 31 days, , or daylight savings changes, you won’t need to mess with the crown. Then, the pushers flanking the crown are as expected: the upper one starts (and stops) the yellow chronograph seconds, while the lower pusher resets it, with the seconds hand trundling around the dial to get back to zero.

While the specs make it seem like a larger watch (43mm by just under 13mm thick), it felt quite wearable. This is due to the fact that the strap is able to drop down as quickly as it needs to to wrap around your wrist and hold things in place. While the case is steel, the strap isn’t; combine that with the lighter quartz movement, and you’ve got a fairly light watch on the wrist.

What that larger case size gives you is easy legibility. Reading the time and tracking what the chronograph is doing is not a problem. It’s not a super high-contrast dial, but then again, this is not a watch meant for timing at the track. It’s more for the aesthetic of a chrono, with the bonus of being able to time things now and again.

Wrapping things up

While I’m not much for chronographs myself, I did not mind it on the days when the Swatch Greenshift Glow was on my wrist during the loan period. It works well as a daily-wear watch (just no swimming, with the 30m WR rating), and the color here is one that you’re not commonly seeing on a watch.

If you’d like to get one of these on your wrist, you can do just that for $210. If that particular color way doesn’t do it for you, there’s also one with a golden dial on a darker blue strap, and then of course there’s the whole Irony chronograph lineup. For the latest version, you can check it out - and buy it - directly at swatch.com

Swatch Greenshift Glow Tech Specs

• Movement: Quartz

• Water resistant: 3 Bar

• Diameter: 43.00 mm

• Thickness: 12.67 mm

• Lug-to-lug: 49.00 mm

• Strap material: Rubber

• Clasp material: Stainless Steel

• Strap clasp: Half Buckle

• Case material: Stainless steel

• Color: Green

• Strap color: Green

• Dial color: Green

• Case color: Grey

• Product family: IRONY

• Collection: Swatch Essentials