Swatch claims ‘One more thing’ trademark isn’t a jab at Apple. Yeah, right.

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“One more thing” returned at this year's iPhone keynote. Photo: Apple.
Yep, it's just a coincidence that Swatch decided to use this phrase right now.
Photo: Apple

Swatch has denied that its trademarking of Steve Jobs’ famous “One more thing” phrase was a blatant attempt to troll Apple — arguing instead that it’s part of a new film noir-inspired watch line, referencing Peter Falk’s Columbo character.

Yes, that’ll do. And Android’s blatant borrowing of the iOS interface was just a funny coincidence too, right?

For those who haven’t been following the story, Swatch recently registered a trademark in Germany for “One more thing” — the line Apple uses at many of its keynote events to introduce a final surprise.

Speaking with TechRadar, a company spokesperson for Swatch claims that:

“In principle, Swatch trademarks all of its watch names (or names of its collections) in different categories. In the current collection, you can find names like ‘Moitié-Moitié’ or ‘Centrino’, which were inspired by culinary specialties (the very famous Swiss cheese fondue), or by technics. Others are inspired by movies.

In this case, the name was inspired by Inspector Columbo’s citation ‘Just one more thing’ – obviously our design team plans to launch a collection inspired by the ‘Film Noir’.”

Yep, as excuses go it sounds pretty suspicious, but we guess we’ll have to wait if the film noir line materializes as promised. What has already materialized, however, are plenty of illustrations of sour grapes on the part of Swatch as it has gone up against Apple.

Swatch’s co-creator Elmar Mock has spoken out about how the Apple Watch will “put a lot of pressure on the traditional watch industry and jobs in Switzerland,” while Swatch chief exec Nick Hayek recently dismissed the Apple Watch as little more than a “toy” with limited battery life.

Today’s report that Apple Watch is apparently selling huge numbers at Best Buy can’t be helping Swatch morale any, either.

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