Chaos at the start of pocket watch sales "It was like a mosh pit": where the crowds outside Swatch stores abroad escalated
Swatch stores had to close after the run on limited edition watches. Police used tear gas in Paris.
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- Swatch and Audemars Piguet have launched a joint watch collection with the "Royal Pop".
- Swatch closed several stores in the UK and various cities in Europe and the USA at the launch of the pocket watch at the weekend.
- The reason: the crowds outside the Swatch stores escalated and the sale had to be canceled for security reasons.
Swatch closed several of its Swatch stores in the UK and various cities in Europe and the USA at the weekend.
The reason: the launch of a new and limited edition pocket watch called Royal Pop by Swatch and Audemars Piguet.
The Royal Pops were due to go on sale on Saturday. Many customers waited all night or even several days to get their hands on one of the coveted pieces. However, the situation escalated in several cities.
Swatch itself fueled the hype about the new watch by posting on social media. The pocket watch is the result of a collaboration with Audemars Piguet, the manufacturer of sinfully expensive luxury watches. Even entry-level models from the company from Le Brassus VD cost several tens of thousands of francs.
The Royal Pop officially costs 350 francs - on resale platforms it is already being offered for several thousand francs. Sellers in the UK, for example, were calling up prices on eBay on Sunday equivalent to more than 3,000 francs.
Police operations in Great Britain
Police were called in Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Liverpool and Sheffield, reports the Guardian. The crowds had become too large and the situation outside the Swatch stores escalated.
In Birmingham, the authorities apparently banned people from the streets. In Cardiff, a 25-year-old man was arrested.
In London, police dogs were deployed at the Battersea Power Station and Westfield shopping centers, according to the report. Videos showing people pushing past security forces went viral on social media. A brawl is said to have broken out at the Trafford Centre in Manchester.
Swatch decided to keep its stores in Manchester and Liverpool closed on Sunday. The Biel-based watch company's Instagram account stated that this was due to safety considerations for customers and employees.
Tear gas in Paris and unrest in Europe
In several French cities, queues of several hundred people apparently formed during the night from Friday to Saturday. In Paris, officers used tear gas to control a crowd of around 300 people outside a Swatch store.
A metal shutter and two security gates were damaged. The police accused the stores of underestimating the security risk.
According to the Guardian, there was also a brawl outside a Swatch store in Milan. In the Netherlands, the police had to intervene at a shopping center near The Hague. Hundreds of people had gathered there. The store did not open.
According to the report, the stores in Amsterdam and Utrecht also remained closed. A reopening date has not yet been set.
Crowds in New York and high resale prices
In New York, a man reported crowds at the opening of the Swatch store in Times Square. He had been standing in line since Wednesday.
"It was like being in a mosh pit," the Guardian quoted the man as saying. Another man claims to have sold his Royal Pop, for which he paid around 400 US dollars, for ten times as much.
Someone told the newspaper that he had paid 2,400 dollars for one of the pocket watches instead of queuing himself.
Swatch asks for calm
According to the report, Swatch later appealed to customers not to rush to the stores in droves. The Royal Pop collection will still be available for several months.
In some countries, queues of more than 50 people could not be accepted. Sales may have to be interrupted.
