On Saturday 16 May, many people gathered to witness the launch of one of the world’s biggest watch collaborations, with Swatch and Audemars Piguet joining hands to create Royal Pop. Hundreds of people thronged outside Swatch stores in cities including Delhi, Mumbai, New York, Singapore and Bangkok, forcing several stores to cancel opening ceremonies due to overwhelming crowds.
The prices of the watches are roughly above the price ₹40 thousand in India. According to claims on various online watch forums, the price of the Audemars Piguet (AP) x Swatch “Royal Pop” collection ₹41,000 for the Lépine models, which have a crown at 12 o’clock, and ₹44,000 for the Savonnette variants, designed with the crown positioned at 3 o’clock.
Is AP x Swatch sold online?
No. Like previous major Swatch collaborations, Royal Pop will not be sold online. Swatch has once again opted for an in-store only release for the highly anticipated collection.
Customers can only purchase watches by visiting participating Swatch stores in person.
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Huge crowds gather for the AP x Swatch Royal Pop launch
Video from Bengaluru’s Phoenix Marketcity, Whitefield, showed huge queues outside a store where people were waiting to get their hands on the watch.
Another video from Mumbai showed visibly frustrated people huddled together as they waited to catch a glimpse of the watch. One man was heard saying: “We are not animals, the shop is not open today.”
“It wasn’t fun and games anymore. After a while it got too noisy. The kind of people in line, the pushing, the abuse. It just took all the joy out of it. I don’t even want the watch anymore. We could have gotten it; we were right at the front and we got pushed out and had to leave. It was worth it after a while, the man just didn’t have a record.”
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The event at the Dubai Mall has been canceled due to public safety concerns, Emirates confirmed in an Instagram post. No new launch date has been announced.
“Due to public safety concerns, we have decided not to continue selling the product at Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates and the event has been cancelled,” Swatch said on its Instagram page.
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“Absolute Chaos”
While many fans were disappointed by the last-minute cancellation, several users said that canceling the event was the safest decision for everyone involved.
Rishi Navani, who waited in the Dubai Mall of the Emirates car park for five hours before moving to the Dubai Mall car park for another two hours, described the situation as “absolute chaos”.
“It’s good that they canceled the launch because public safety comes first. I’m in favor of waiting and getting my hands on it in a safe way,” Rishi said, according to Gulf News.
Today, social media was flooded with visuals from the anticipated launch of the Swatch and AP collaboration, showing chaotic scenes in malls across Dubai. Videos of the long snaking queues have since gone viral on TikTok and Instagram Reels. As early as 6:45 a.m., a sea of people gathered in front of the Swatch stores in Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates.
Several watch enthusiasts and collectors later took to social media to express their frustration at the last-minute cancellation and alleged lack of crowd control.
