The release of the Audemars Piguet x Swatch collaboration on May 16 caused chaos worldwide. I believe police had to be called to several shops and others were forced to shut due to rowdy crowds. It seemed in the articles I read that most of the people in the queues were resellers buying them to flip online. These watches are not for sale online and are only available in certain stores. There also appears to be a one-watch-per-person, per-store, per-day policy.
I happened to be passing the Stockholm shop yesterday and saw them in the window. The shop is tiny so they were only allowing one customer in at a time. There was no queue and it seemed like they had watches left. There were some in the window anyway (see above) It’s a pocket watch so I thought it would narrow the market but the guard at the shop said customers are also buying it as a pendant or bag charm.
I read this interesting article (excerpts below)
It brought to mind the Swatch x Omega craze which had the same effect. After a while though, there were enough drops of this watch that you can walk in and buy pretty much whichever you want. If Swatch has more drops of the Piguet collection, the price is going to drop right out of the resellers’ market.
I have never been a fan of Swatch watches – which is good because there are thousands of different kinds and so many collectors’ series. They are too light and plasticky for me, and there are way too many different versions. I like to wear the same watch every day and I like them to be solid.
I like a watch to feel like it’s going to last more than just a few years. I have a few expensive watches (one was damaged when I moved but will cost an arm and a leg to repair). I don’t wear a watch at all at the moment because I don’t really need one.