{"id":53673,"date":"2026-05-19T21:16:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=53673"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:16:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:16:36","slug":"swatch-drops-us400-royal-pop-watch-then-people-got-crazy-from-hong-kong-to-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=53673","title":{"rendered":"Swatch drops US$400 Royal Pop watch. Then \u2018people got crazy\u2019 from Hong Kong to US"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In Paris, police deployed tear gas. In Milan, a fist-fight erupted. In Hong Kong<\/span>, Singapore, London and New York, all-night queues snaked from the doors of Swatch stores \u2013 the latest examples of \u201cdrop culture\u201d to flash across the globe when status symbols and resale value collide.<\/div>\n
The company at the centre of it all, Swatch, is no stranger to over-the-top retail outbreaks, and said on May 18 that there is no shortage of its Royal Pop pocket watch \u2013 a collaboration with luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet<\/span>.<\/div>\n

All for a \u201cbioceramic\u201d timekeeper that retails for around US$400 \u2013 but perhaps more to the point, resells for thousands of dollars. By May 18, the candy-coloured flex objects had proliferated on eBay, with one boasting: \u201cIn hand!!! Swatch x AP Royal Pop,\u201d \u00a33,055 (US$4,100) \u201cor best offer\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was the latest eruption in a generation-long trail of consumerist frenzy \u2013 both online and in the physical world \u2013 that has touched companies from Nike<\/span> to Walmart<\/span> to Apple<\/span> as human beings race, sometimes frantically, to keep pace with buying trends and the potential for resale.<\/div>\n
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A saleswoman shows the new Royal Pop watch by Swatch and Audemars Piguet to a customer in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 16, 2026. Photo: EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\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 says Pierre-Yves Donze, a professor of business history at Osaka University\u2019s Graduate School of Economics in Japan. \u201cPeople want money, especially. Royal Pop is not like a cool product, but a way to make easy money.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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