Has The Audemars Piguet X Swatch Been A Negative Launch?
In my mind, absolutely. Yet today, my happy bucket is slowly draining away as I scroll through social media watching the inevitable chaos surrounding the launch of the new Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop collection. Across the globe, hundreds of people are once again camping outside Swatch boutiques, all hoping to secure what is, when all’s said and done, still a plastic Swatch. Honestly, the whole spectacle has become almost painfully predictable.
Looking through the videos and photos online, it was hard not to notice that a huge percentage of those queueing didn’t appear to be watch enthusiasts at all. I’m not trying to sound elitist or offensive here, but most looked like they’d never stepped foot in a watch fair, never spent hours discussing movements, vintage references or case finishing, and probably couldn’t tell you the difference between an AP Royal Oak and a Casioak.
What we are seeing isn’t watch culture. It’s resale culture. The watch itself almost becomes irrelevant.
The same people queueing today could just as easily be flipping trainers, handbags, concert tickets or the latest limited-edition gadget tomorrow. The product doesn’t matter. The potential profit does. And the numbers explain exactly why this keeps happening.
With a Royal Pop costing £335-£350, within hours of launch, completed eBay sales were already appearing at around £700 to £850, with some ambitious sellers pushing close to £2,000. For a watch that costs a fraction of that at retail, the temptation for quick money becomes irresistible.
This is no longer about collecting. It’s about opportunism.
What’s perhaps most frustrating is that these aren’t even genuinely limited pieces. Anyone who actually wants one simply needs to wait. A few days, perhaps a few weeks, and the market will settle. Supply will increase, the hype will cool, and prices will drop back toward reality. But modern consumer culture doesn’t reward patience anymore. It rewards urgency, fear of missing out and instant gratification, and with that comes chaos.
Due to overwhelming crowds and safety concerns, Swatch has already shut stores in multiple cities including White City, Battersea, Trafford Centre, Barcelona, Dubai, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and Liverpool. Videos online show pushing, shouting, scuffles and scenes that look more like Black Friday sales than a watch launch.
The MoonSwatch launch should have been the warning sign. Swatch witnessed exactly what hype culture could become back then. Massive queues, disorder, overnight camping and rampant flipping dominated headlines. Yet here we are again, watching the exact same situation repeat itself under a different collaboration. At some point, brands need to accept responsibility for the environments they create.
Because while collaborations like this generate enormous publicity, they also attract entirely the wrong audience. Genuine enthusiasts are increasingly being priced out, pushed aside or simply refusing to engage with launches altogether because the experience has become so toxic.
The irony is that watch collecting was once built around passion, appreciation and community. Now certain launches resemble financial trading floors mixed with sneaker drops. So how do brands fix this?
The simplest solution is probably the most obvious one: remove the queue entirely.
Online registration systems, lottery allocations and verified collector databases would dramatically reduce the madness. Brands could easily implement purchase windows tied to accounts, limiting bulk buying and reducing the influence of organised resellers. Some independent brands already do this successfully, quietly cancelling suspicious multiple orders before they ever reach the secondary market.
Another solution is patience from buyers themselves. Flippers only exist because people continue paying inflated prices. If nobody rushed to spend £1,500 on a plastic Swatch within hours of launch, the entire resale ecosystem would collapse overnight. The hype survives because people fuel it.
Perhaps that’s the saddest part of all, watches are supposed to bring enjoyment. They’re little mechanical or quartz objects that tell stories, spark conversations and connect people through shared passion. Yet launches like this increasingly feel disconnected from actual watch culture.
Instead of celebrating horology, we’re watching people fight over margins. That’s not a direction the hobby should be proud of. Will I get one? Probably not. I liked the MoonSwatch and the Fifty Fathoms collaboration too, yet I still never ended up buying either. Realistically, I’ll probably sit this one out as well and leave the madness to those willing to queue, scramble and play the game.
It’s a shame seeing the same cycle of hype and chaos unfold yet again, although none of it is remotely surprising. The frenzy was completely predictable from the outset. I’m just not entirely sure how Swatch expected this to go any differently.
I’m not putting a link to the Audemars Piguet x Swatch, I believe enough damage has been done and brands need to try harder to stop this. It’s called enablement and Swatch needs to behave more responsible.
For more of our latest articles - click here