The Swatch ScubAqua collection is ‘a Woolworths pick-and-mix counter for your wrist’

It can be easy to oversell the idea that a certain era is ‘back’; a more clear-headed perspective might be that we find ourselves living in an age where everyone, regardless of age, is on the receiving end of relentless nostalgia marketing. But look: teenagers are wearing baggy jeans again, my primary-school age daughter comes home from parties with slap bands and yo-yos, and Pulp just announced a new album, so forgive me for finding a certain 1990s flavour in the air.

In watchmaking, the return of the 1990s — not, it must be said, horology’s most glittering decade — has been heralded a few times already in the last five years. First, vintage connoisseurs started telling anyone who’ll listen that it was all about 1990s dress watches from the likes of Breguet, Blancpain and Audemars Piguet. Then, brands that like to dabble in pop culture references — like TAG Heuer — leaned into the idea of the 30-year nostalgia cycle. If you’re a wealthy, successful Millennial, there’s a chance a Mario Kart watch does more for you than one with Popeye on it, or a melancholy watercolour painting of Lake Geneva.

This summer, however, the 90s wristwatch revival is hitting more mainstream notes. On May 8, Swatch launched the ScubAqua collection (left), a successor to its 1990 dive watch, the Scuba 200. Despite the mouthful of a name — ‘Skoo-backwa’ just doesn’t roll off the tongue — it’s a five-piece collection that’s achingly 90s, all see-through plastics and E-number colour palettes; a Woolworths pick-and-mix counter for your wrist. It’s brought up to date by the bioceramic case (as seen on the now-ubiquitous MoonSwatch), but the chunky bezel, two-tone rubber strap and visible movement are pleasingly retro.

For slightly more grown-up budgets — but equally youthful and poppy in style — there’s the TAG Heuer Formula 1 collection. The original did make its debut in 1986, but it was enduringly popular right through the 1990s, when TAG Heuer last served as F1’s timekeeper of choice. Rather than plastic, the cases are now a proprietary composite material the brand calls ‘Polylight’, and they’ve all got brand new solar-powered quartz movements inside, but look at them: they’re so 90s they should come with a tub of wet-look, firm-hold hair gel.

Last but not least, it would be rude to have an affordable 90s watch revival without Timex. The American brand has been on a bit of a tear lately, turning out pitch–perfect heritage-inspired redesigns while also getting quietly creative in the present-day. It’s no surprise that its creative director Giorgio Galli ran Swatch’s studio in the 1990s. This year, Timex has released a 30-year commemorative edition of the 1995 Intrepid ‘Indiglo’, a 46mm quartz-powered tool watch that screams ‘family-blockbuster-movie-dad’. Of course, it retains the push-button illuminated screen that, back then, was big news. Now, all I need are some shoulder pads and a briefcase…