Swatch blames shopping centres for 'problems' with Royal Pop launch

Swiss watch giant Swatch said Monday (May 18) insufficient organisation by shopping centres contributed to scuffles at around 20 stores worldwide over the weekend as clients raced to buy a limited-edition timepiece.

Hundreds of people waited through the night or longer hoping to get their hands on the "Royal Pop" timepieces, billed as a "disruptive collaboration" with the luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet (AP).

But things turned ugly in New York and several European cities as well as in Thailand on Saturday, with fights breaking out and some security gates vandalised at some of the 220 stores offering the watches.

In France, officers fired tear gas to control a crowd of around 300 would-be buyers outside a Swatch shop near Paris, and four people reported being punched in the crowed massed outside a store in Lille, northern France.

"There were problems... because the lines were extremely long and the organisation by some shopping centres was not sufficient to handle the rush," Swatch said in a statement to AFP. 

It noted similar incidents during the 2022 launch of its MoonSwatch collaboration with Omega.

"As with the MoonSwatch, things 'normalised' a bit after launch day, especially after we again communicated that the Royal Pop collection would be available for several months," it said.

Fights and police interventions were also reported at stores in Amsterdam, London and Milan, and Swatch said it had to close stores in several cities for "safety considerations".  

Experts say the frenzy surrounding the limited-edition drop stems largely from the unexpected pairing of Swatch with AP, which is widely regarded as one of the world’s most exclusive watch brands.

But analysts are divided over whether such collaborations help or hurt luxury brands in the long run.

Daniel Langer, CEO of luxury brand strategy firm Equite, said he remains sceptical, describing the collaboration as a potentially “dangerous” move for AP’s brand equity.

"The AP brand is incredibly sought after, and desirability is created by scarcity and a certain difficulty in getting it. Now, (they're) basically democratising such a thing and hoping that this brings long-term brand equity," he told CNA's Asia First.

Langer pointed to the earlier MoonSwatch collaboration, saying the buzz and sales boost generated by the launch proved “extremely short-lived” for both Swatch and Omega.  

“If AP is hoping the next generation of clients will … later convert (into buying a real AP) just because they may have the Royal Pop watch right now, that's not very realistic," he said. 

“I have huge doubts that this is going to be a long-term brand equity play. The numbers from the (MoonSwatch) collaboration show that in the long term you don't really gain from doing something like that.”