Over the years the MTA has toyed with full subway advertising a fair amount, especially on the shuttle between Times Square and Grand Central. But with money tight the agency is upping its ad-wrapping game. After a successful run last summer with a Target-wrapped 6 train, the MTA yesterday released into the wild a number of 6 trains decked out in advertisements for Swatch.

"The MTA earns more than $100 million per year from sales of advertising space, mostly through traditional print media, but we continue to map out new ways to maximize the value of our physical assets," MTA Chairman Jay Walder said in a release. "One way we are doing that is by creating more dynamic advertising opportunities."

And these trains are by no means the only "dynamic advertising opportunity
the agency is pursuing. They recently put out feelers to revive the idea of in-tunnel animated ads and, apparently, they are "also exploring 3D images" (your guess is as good as ours). Last year they also started plopping advertisements on the outside of commuter trains—which they believe to have been the first time such ads were placed "since railroading began in the New York City region in the 1830s."

Anyone been on one of the Swatch cars yet? Did they remind you of the bad old days? Or did you barely register the ads?