Clip-On Clocks Are Clicking

Just a decade ago, Switzerland seemed doomed to lose its place as the superpower of time. Tokyo was ticking ahead with inexpensive wristwatches that captured a larger and larger share of the market. But in 1983 the jazzy and fashionable Swatch, which sells for $30, buzzed into markets from Singapore to San Francisco and rescued the Swiss industry in the nick of time. Now Swatch has a new Swiss competitor clipping at its heels.

Le Clip, a quartz fashion watch set into a clothespin-like plastic clip that is designed to be worn almost anywhere except the wrist, has captured markets in...