Swatch LOCARNO78: The 2025 Locarno Film Festival Watch
by Asif Rahman on Jul 13, 2026
Swatch, art and cinema
LOCARNO78: A Watch Made from Art
A limited-edition New Gent shaped by cinema, contemporary art and Locarno's iconic leopard — discover the story behind LOCARNO78 and why this unworn collector's watch deserves a place in your collection.
Some Swatch watches tell the time. Others capture a cultural moment. The Swatch LOCARNO78 SO29Z402 belongs firmly in the second group. Created for the 78th Locarno Film Festival in 2025, this limited-edition New Gent transforms the festival's leopard identity and Wolfgang Tillmans' abstract poster artwork into a watch that feels closer to wearable art than a conventional souvenir.
Its hypnotic mix of yellow, violet, brown and iridescent tones gives the watch a different character from every angle. The result is unmistakably Swatch: playful, experimental and rooted in visual culture. For collectors already browsing the Swatch Art Collection, LOCARNO78 offers a particularly strong meeting point between Swiss design, contemporary art and cinema.
Why LOCARNO78 is more than a festival souvenir
The Locarno Film Festival has long used the leopard as its central visual symbol, most famously through the Pardo d'Oro. For the 2025 edition, German artist and Turner Prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans reimagined that symbol through a blurred, psychedelic composition. Swatch carried the same visual language across the LOCARNO78 dial and strap, preserving the atmosphere of the artwork rather than simply placing a festival logo on the watch.
That creative approach gives the model lasting appeal. It is tied to a specific festival edition, a recognised artist and a distinct piece of graphic design. Those layers of meaning are exactly what many collectors look for in a Swatch New Gent special edition.
LOCARNO78 does not merely reference the festival — it carries the energy of the 2025 poster across the entire watch.
Limited-edition Swatch · Locarno 2025 · In stock
Swatch New Gent
LOCARNO78
Ref. SO29Z402 · New Gent Special
Created for the 78th Locarno Film Festival, LOCARNO78 translates Wolfgang Tillmans' official poster into an iridescent Solar Spectrum dial and a blurred leopard motif across the silicone strap. The listed example is authentic, unworn and supplied in its original packaging.
- Case material
- Bio-sourced material
- Case size
- 41 mm
- Movement
- Swiss quartz
- Water resistance
- 3 bar
- Artist
- Wolfgang Tillmans
- Year
- 2025
In stock at SwatchVintage
Design details that make the SO29Z402 stand out
Artist-inspired colour: yellow, violet, brown and iridescent tones echo the blurred, experimental visual language of Wolfgang Tillmans' festival poster.
Leopard identity: the dial and strap reinterpret Locarno's Pardo symbol without falling back on a conventional animal-print pattern.
Cinema connection: the design records a specific edition of one of Europe's most recognisable film festivals, giving the watch a clear cultural identity beyond its reference number.
The transparent effects across the dial add depth to the leopard motif, while purple markers and hands create contrast against the shifting background. A yellow date detail and the bright LOCARNO78 loop break through the darker case and make the watch easy to identify even at a glance.
Because the New Gent format provides more visual space than a classic Gent case, the artwork has room to breathe. You can explore more designs built on this larger creative canvas in the New Gent collection.
Who should consider adding LOCARNO78 to their collection?
This watch has obvious appeal for Swatch collectors, but its audience is wider than that. Film lovers may appreciate the connection to Locarno, while design enthusiasts may be drawn to the Tillmans-inspired composition and presentation. It can also make a distinctive gift for someone who prefers expressive watches over conventional luxury styling.
Most importantly, LOCARNO78 feels specific. It is not a generic colourful Swatch or a design likely to be repeated every season. Its identity belongs to one festival edition, which gives the watch a clear story and makes it easier to remember within a larger collection.
Add a piece of Locarno78 to your collection
View all current photographs, product details and availability before this festival edition moves into another collection.
How LOCARNO78 fits into the wider Swatch story
Swatch has always treated the watch as a canvas. The brand's strongest special editions often connect timekeeping with painting, photography, graphic design, music or film. LOCARNO78 continues that tradition by translating a poster created for a major cultural event into an object that can be worn and collected.
It also demonstrates why modern special editions sit naturally beside older models at Swatch Vintage. The store is not only about the 1980s and 1990s; it is about watches with a strong design identity and a story worth preserving. Learn more about the store's collector-led approach on the About Us page.
Continue exploring Swatch Vintage
Collector's checklist before buying a Swatch LOCARNO78
Before adding a LOCARNO78 to your collection, compare the reference, condition and presentation details carefully. These points help distinguish a complete collector-ready example from a watch that may be missing part of its original story.
- Confirm reference SO29Z402. Check that the listing identifies the watch as LOCARNO78 from the 2025 Locarno Film Festival edition.
- Review the condition carefully. Inspect the case, crystal, strap, buckle and printed details, especially when comparing unworn and previously worn examples.
- Check the original packaging. The dedicated presentation box adds context and completeness, which can matter to collectors of festival and artist-linked Swatches.
Swatch Vintage currently presents this LOCARNO78 as an unworn, new-in-box example. Visit the LOCARNO78 product page for the latest condition details, availability and purchasing information.
Art, cinema & collectible Swatch releases
Build a collection around the artists, not just the release years
If LOCARNO78 is the kind of Swatch you collect — story-first, artist-led and tied to a specific cultural moment — view this unworn example while it is still available from Swatch Vintage.
View LOCARNO78Availability for individual collector watches can change quickly because each listed example is unique.
How an experimental festival poster became a collectible Swatch
Wolfgang Tillmans created the official Locarno78 poster through an intentionally physical, imperfect process. He combined a photograph of a leopard resting in a tree with leopard-patterned faux-fur gloves, then moved the elements while a photocopier completed its separate CMYK colour passes. The resulting blur, yellow dominance and violet-edged forms gave the 2025 festival a visual identity that felt both photographic and abstract.
LOCARNO78 succeeds because it does not reduce that artwork to a small logo. The colour shifts continue across the dial and strap, while the spotted indexes and dedicated festival loop preserve details that connect the watch directly to the poster. It can therefore be appreciated as a New Gent special, a Locarno Film Festival release and an artist-led Swatch in its own right.
That layered identity gives the SO29Z402 a stronger collector story than a conventional event souvenir. Long after the 2025 festival dates, the watch still records a specific collaboration between cinema, contemporary art and Swiss watch design. Collectors looking for similarly expressive releases can continue through the Swatch Art Collection.
Some festival watches mark an event. LOCARNO78 preserves an artwork.
By translating Wolfgang Tillmans' Locarno poster into the dial, strap and presentation of a New Gent, LOCARNO78 turns a single festival edition into a wearable piece of visual culture.
Explore more artist-led watches in the Swatch Art Collection, discover other large-format designs in the New Gent collection, or continue reading the latest Swatch Vintage Journal.
The most memorable Swatch is often the one with a story no other model can repeat.
