Police Deploy Tear Gas in Paris as Swatch Royal Pop Launch Sparks Fistfight in Milan

Swatch’s Royal Pop pocket watch launch, a collaboration with Audemars Piguet’s luxury timepieces, triggered global scenes of “drop culture” as police deployed tear gas in Paris, a fistfight erupted in Milan, and all-night queues snaked from Swatch stores in London, Singapore and New York.

“LONDON -- In Paris, police deployed tear gas”

ABC News

The Swiss watchmaker said Monday there’s “no shortage of its Royal Pop pocket watch,” while the watch retails for around $400 and resells for thousands of dollars, with one listing on eBay for 3,055.58 British pounds ($4,092.31) “or Best Offer.”

ABC News

In London, a mob of several dozen blocked the sidewalk at the Swatch store on nearby Oxford Street on Sunday just before it opened, and police closed all Swatch stores in London and several other U.K. cities.

The Associated Press described the frenzy as an internet-fueled rush, saying the Royal Pop has received over 11 billion views since the launch and that the pocket watch launched only in retail stores and was not available online.

Swatch said the chaos reflected “challenges arose on launch day because the queues of interested customers were exceptionally long,” and it pointed to the organization of some shopping malls as not sufficient for the turnout.

Pierre-Yves Donze, a business history professor at Osaka University Graduate School of Economics, said in an email that “It looks like people got crazy to get a Royal Pop to make money through resale, not because they are fans of the Swatch.”

Donze added that “People want money, especially,” framing the Royal Pop as “a way to make easy money” rather than a cool product people collect.

Associated Press

Swatch did not respond to a question about its products being resold way above retail, but in a statement to The Associated Press the company pointed to demand and retailers.

The Associated Press also reported that Swatch said in about 20 of Swatch’s 220 stores worldwide where the Royal Pop was launched, “challenges arose on launch day because the queues of interested customers were exceptionally long.”

In France, the national police service said police used both tear gas grenades and tear gas spray to disperse crowds outside Swatch boutiques, and Swatch France later posted on Instagram that “because of public security considerations,” its stores in a half dozen French locations were closed for the day.

Swatch issued a statement assuring people that the Royal Pop will be available for months, even as the launch model—retail-only and not available online—kept the focus on physical queues and resale listings.

“By LAURIE KELLMAN LONDON (AP) — In Paris, police deployed tear gas”

Boston Herald

The Associated Press said the company compared the Royal Pop to the MoonSwatch launch during the pandemic in March 2022 in partnership with sister company Omega, and it described a similar swoon as masked people ran on social media from Singapore to Sydney.

The SSBCrack account said prices on platforms like eBay soared to over £3,000 and described scenes “resembling chaotic rushes” across major cities, including a “mosh pit” around a store in Times Square, New York.

Swatch’s explanation for the disruptions emphasized inadequate crowd management at certain shopping centers, with the company saying “organization of some shopping malls was not sufficient to handle this level of turnout.”

As the immediate scramble eased, the SSBCrack report said reports of shoppers camping out for a chance to buy had subsided as they awaited the next batch of shipments to local stores.