The Iconic Pop Swatch Deserved Better Than This: How Scalpers Soured A Fun Revival
The Swatch x Audemars Piguet collaboration brought back the iconic Pop Swatch with AP’s Royal Oak design.
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What makes the Swatch x Audemars Piguet Royal Pop Collection collaboration truly compelling isn’t just the prestige of the partnership. It’s that the drop doubles as a revival of Swatch’s beloved Pop Swatch. It’s not just a ‘’plastic pocket watch’’ for watch collectors and fans.
On May 16, long queues snaked around stores worldwide, but the excitement soon soured as scalpers and genuine fans clashed. This resulted in Swatch having to close shop and issue reminders that the Swatch x AP Pop Swatch watches aren’t limited edition pieces.
Scalpers are now quickly trying to offload their stock at high and marked-up prices. The retail price for the Swatch x AP watch is RM1,720 per piece in Malaysia. Scalpers are attempting to sell one for about RM6k and above.
Since the watch isn’t limited in quantity, the resale market is already cooling and leaving scalpers in a frantic rush to cash out their hoards.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this play out. The Swatch x Omega drop drew similar scenes, leaving many puzzled by the lengths people would go to and the anger that followed when they didn’t get a watch in their hand.
Threads user @matteo_sofia_ said these collaborations were never meant to be a get-rich-quick scheme, but a way to entice new buyers with a fun product.
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More about the Pop Swatch
The Pop Swatch was produced between 1986 and 1995, and was popular for breaking the conventional watch design. The Pop Swatch was designed to be modular so that it can be ‘’popped out’’ and attached elsewhere, and worn in a completely new way.
Wearers can pop out the watch from the strap and wear it as a pocket watch, use it as a desk clock, or even a wall clock. The watches also come with accessories like a beaded string, a wall-mounting disc, and a magnifying glass desk stand.
The Royal Pop Collection also features the brand’s signature SISTEM51 movement. Launched in 2013, the SISTEM51 movement marked a turning point in industrial watchmaking. It challenged the conventional wisdom that high-quality Swiss mechanical watches had to come with a hefty price tag.
SISTEM51 is a fully automatic mechanical movement composed of just 51 parts, making Swatch quartz watches affordable without compromising Swiss watch quality.
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