{"id":7680,"date":"2026-05-18T23:31:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T23:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7680"},"modified":"2026-05-18T23:31:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T23:31:46","slug":"police-break-out-tear-gas-to-control-crowds-clamoring-for-new-swatch-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7680","title":{"rendered":"Police break out tear gas to control crowds clamoring for new Swatch drop"},"content":{"rendered":"

By LAURIE KELLMAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

LONDON (AP) \u2014 In Paris, police deployed tear gas. In Milan, Italy, a fistfight erupted. In London, Singapore and New York, all-night queues snaked from the doors of Swatch stores \u2014 the latest examples of status-symbol \u201cdrop culture\u201d to flash across the globe when status symbols and resale value collide.<\/p>

Read more Orange Lutheran softball team outlasts Chino Hills in Division 1 slugfest<\/a><\/p>\n

The company at the center of it all, Swatch, no stranger to over-the-top retail outbreaks, said it was time to chill. The Swiss watchmaker said Monday that there\u2019s no shortage of its Royal Pop pocket watch, a collaboration with Audemars Piguet\u2019s luxury timepieces.<\/p>\n

All for a \u201cbioceramic\u201d timekeeper that retails for around $400 \u2014 but perhaps more to the point, resells for thousands of dollars. By Monday, the candy-colored flex objects proliferated on eBay, with one boasting: \u201cIN HAND!!! Swatch x AP Royal Pop,\u201d for 3,055.58 British pounds ($4,092.31) \u201cor Best Offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the latest eruption in a generation-long trail of consumerist frenzy \u2014 both online and in the physical world \u2014 that has touched companies from Nike to Walmart to Apple as human beings race, sometimes frantically, to keep pace with buying trends and the potential for resale.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like people got crazy to get a Royal Pop to make money through resale, not because they are fans of the Swatch,\u201d said Pierre-Yves Donze, a business history professor at Osaka University Graduate School of Economics. \u201cPeople want money, especially. Royal Pop is not like a cool product, but a way to make easy money.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a change, he said in an email, from past product drops from Swatch and other brands that benefit from the reach of social media to create the appearance, at least, of overwhelming demand. Previously, he said, people spent the money on buzzy objects because \u201cthey wanted to have it in their collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 at demand and retailers. It said that in about 20 of Swatch\u2019s 220 stores worldwide where the Royal Pop was launched, \u201cchallenges arose on launch day because the queues of interested customers were exceptionally long and the organization of some shopping malls was not sufficient to handle this level of turnout.\u201d<\/p>

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