Sales of the Royal Pop, the bioceramic pocket watch collaboration from Audemars Piguet and Swatch, resumed in some locations on Monday after the Saturday launch was marred by overwhelming crowds that forced store closures across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.
Customers were seen buying the $400 watch in Geneva on Monday as the Swatch boutique resumed sales of the timepiece.
Swatch boutique in Geneva on Saturday saw a heavy police presence to control crowds.
Swatch closed at least 20 of its stores on Saturday as launch-day crowds and demand for the Royal Pop pocket watch overwhelmed security and staff. Stores in the U.A.E, India, the U.K., Europe, and at locations in the U.S. and Canada were closed on May 16, according to social media posts, after crowds seeking to buy the pocket watch collaboration surged, queues collapsed, and sporadic scenes of violence broke out. Police were on hand at dozens of locations to control crowds.
The line at the Swatch boutique in Wales (photo: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images).
The sign on the window of the Wales Swatch boutique following the temporary store closure (photo: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images).
The Biel/Bienne-based company, in a statement, said Monday that “the response to the Royal Pop Collection has been phenomenal worldwide,” and demand is extremely high. Swatch said that in “around 20 Swatch stores” out of a total of 220 stores globally where the Royal Pop was launched, “challenges arose on launch day because the queues of interested customers were exceptionally long, and the organization of some shopping malls was not sufficient to handle this level of turnout.” Swatch said the situation was similar to the MoonSwatch launch in March, 2022, which also saw stores hit by long lines.
“As with the MoonSwatch, the situation has now normalized somewhat after the launch day, especially after we communicated once again that the Royal Pop Collection will be available for several months,” Swatch said.
Screen caps of messages posted to Swatch social media accounts.
In a statement on Instagram over the weekend, Swatch urged customers “not to rush to our stores in large numbers” in order “to ensure the safety of our customers and staff.” The “Royal Pop collection will be available for several months. In some countries, queues of more than 50 people cannot be accepted, and sales may need to be paused,” Swatch said in the post.
Country-specific Swatch Instagram accounts, including the U.S., announced the closing of stores from New York to Chicago and California (shown above).
The chaotic launch poses a reputational risk for the highly anticipated collaboration and raises questions about the wisdom of selling the pocket watches only in stores and not online. Audemars Piguet, which had committed to using the proceeds from sales of the Royal Oak-inspired pocket watches produced and sold by Swatch to fund the development and skills of the next generation of watchmakers, has yet to comment on the matter following the launch-day incidents and store closures.
The Royal Pop. Photo credit: Mark Kauzlarich
Social media posts from Mumbai posted on the weekend show crowds of hundreds of people surging before the store sale was canceled. At the Dubai Mall in the U.A.E, sales were halted after crowds overwhelmed the indoor shopping space. Similar chaotic scenes at Swatch stores from Milan, London, the U.S., and Canada were also posted online.
In many locations, queues were dominated by people looking to ‘flip’ the Royal Pop pocket watches and resell them at a profit. Listings on eBay are offering the watches at a price of more than $2,000, while bidding on resale sites in Switzerland reached more than CHF 700 (~$1220) in some cases.
Swatch launched the MoonSwatch, a collaboration with fellow group brand Omega in 2022, and then followed that with the Scuba Fifty Fathoms, a collaboration with another Swatch Group brand, Blancpain. The Royal Pop collab with Audemars Piguet marked the first recent pairing with an outside independent luxury watch brand.
