Swatch stores in Manchester and Liverpool were shut for a second day after queues built up again around the launch of a new £335 pocket watch that shoppers were eager to buy. The closures followed a weekend rush that had already forced the company to shut many shops in cities across the UK on Saturday.
Swatch said the closures were driven by safety considerations and asked people not to rush to its stores in large numbers. The company also said the items would remain available for several months, a bid to calm the crush around a release that had already turned into a spectacle at branches across the country.
The pocket watch sits inside a collaboration with luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet, which Swatch described as “a disruptive collaboration between two icons of Swiss watchmaking.” That pitch has only added to the demand. The items were being resold online for up to £16,000, far above the launch price, and that gap helped fuel the scramble at stores from the start.
The pressure was not limited to Britain. An event was cancelled in Dubai, police officers were called to launches in France and Switzerland, and in New York shoppers camped for a week in Times Square, with some becoming unwell during the wait. In Cardiff, a man was arrested, while police were also called to reports of people making threats outside the Liverpool store.
Swatch said, “To ensure the safety of both our customers and our staff in Swatch stores, we kindly ask you not to rush to our stores in large numbers to acquire this product.” It added that in some countries queues of more than 50 people could not be accepted and sales might need to be paused. That leaves the brand trying to sell a product that it says will stay on shelves for months while also keeping order around launches that have already overwhelmed several stores. For now, the answer to the rush is not scarcity but control: the watch is still coming, but not at any cost to safety.
