A $400 pocket watch has done what few consumer products can: shut down retail stores on multiple continents, deploy police across half a dozen countries, and generate resale prices that rival the luxury timepieces it pays tribute to.

Swatch’s “Royal Pop” collection — a collaboration with Audemars Piguet that wraps the prestige of the Royal Oak in a Swatch POP aesthetic from the 1980s — launched Saturday at select stores worldwide. By mid-morning, the Swiss company was closing locations across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and Canada, citing “public safety considerations.” An event in Dubai was cancelled outright.

In New York, shoppers camped outside the Times Square Swatch store for a full week. Some became unwell during the wait, according to BBC News. At Roosevelt Field mall on Long Island, crowds pushed forward around 6 a.m. when sales began, prompting a police response and multiple arrests. A bystander told Business Insider that officers used pepper spray; the Nassau County Police Department would not confirm that detail. In Cardiff, one person was arrested. In Liverpool, police responded to reports of people “making threats” outside the store.

The maths explains the bedlam. Audemars Piguet watches routinely cost tens of thousands of dollars. The Royal Pop pocket watch sells for roughly $400. It is, in essence, a lottery ticket — one already listing on eBay for as much as $15,000, according to Business Insider.

Swatch urged calm, noting the collection “will remain available for several months” and that queues exceeding 50 people may trigger sales pauses. Critics pointed out the obvious: the watches could simply be sold online.

Swatch described the collaboration as “a disruptive collaboration between two icons of Swiss watchmaking.” The disruption, at least, is beyond dispute.

Sources