Swatch shut its Manchester and Liverpool stores for a second day after queues built up again around the launch of its new £335 pocket watch collaboration with Audemars Piguet. Shoppers were still lining up for the Royal Pop on Sunday, even after the company had urged people not to rush to its stores in large numbers.
The Swiss watchmaker first closed shops in Birmingham, Sheffield, Glasgow, Cardiff and London on Saturday after crowds gathered at branches worldwide. In Cardiff, one man was arrested, while police were called to reports of threats outside the Liverpool store after a crowd of several hundred formed outside the Swatch branch in the Liverpool ONE complex.
The launch has turned into a test of how much demand Swatch can handle. The company said the watches would remain available for several months, but it also warned that in some countries queues of more than 50 people could not be accepted and sales might need to be paused. That tension was visible from the start, with an event cancelled in Dubai, police officers called to launches in France and Switzerland, and New York shoppers camping for one week in Times Square, some becoming unwell during the wait.
Swatch described the Royal Pop as “a disruptive collaboration between two icons of Swiss watchmaking” and said it was inspired by the Pop Art movement of the 1950s and 60s, blending Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak design with Swatch’s colourful Pop brand from the 1980s. The company said some of the items had already been resold online for up to £16,000, a price that has helped fuel the scramble at stores in the UK and beyond.
For now, the unanswered question is whether the rush can be contained before more shops are forced to close. Swatch has said the product is not a one-day drop, but the scenes outside its stores suggest buyers are treating it that way.
