Only a handful manage to purchase Audemars Piguet x Swatch watches; VivoCity store shuts for the day

SINGAPORE – At 7am on May 16, Ngee Ann Polytechnic student Samuel Kong found himself at the front of the official queue for Swiss luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet and watchmaker Swatch’s collaborative collection Royal Pop.

“We didn’t expect to see so many people here,” said Mr Kong, 17. He had reached Ion Orchard on May 15 at around 8pm – the day before the sales launch – and waited outside the mall overnight with his father.

He managed to purchase a watch, which he said was his birthday present to himself.

The overnight queueing situation at Ion Orchard was confusing, he said, with hundreds of people gathered outside Bacha Coffee on Level 1 – the designated holding area for the launch queue. There was no clear line until mall security and policemen intervened at around midnight.

“At first, there were a lot of people crowded at the front (of the queue) and, after a while, some people started going to the back and everyone followed. We just stayed in our spot and managed to get to the front of the line,” he said. 

“At one point, people started pushing so much that the queue poles began collapsing.” 

By 8am on May 16, the queue at Ion Orchard’s Swatch store had roughly 150 to 200 people in line, based on observations by The Straits Times. Many who had spent the night waiting were armed with foldable chairs, portable fans and snacks.

Checks by ST on May 15 showed at least 70 listings on online marketplace Carousell, with many users offering to queue for the release. Queueing fees on the platform ranged from about $300 to $500, while resale listings for the watch climbed as high as $2,000.

The line also included numerous foreign workers queueing on behalf of buyers. Many, including Mr Rusky Ahmad, 22, had found out about the job opportunity through channels advertising part-time work on online platforms like Telegram and Facebook or word of mouth.

The Sri Lankan national had been at Ion Orchard since 6pm on May 15. He was told he could get around $150 to $200 for his queueing service, but would not be able to collect payment if he did not manage to buy a watch. 

“If I don’t get the watch, I will be sad. Money is very important to send home,” said Mr Rusky, who also hopes to put some money towards a rental unit. He later told ST that he was unable to buy a watch and did not receive payment.

ITE College East student Yusuf Ismail, 18, who was at Ion Orchard from around 4pm, estimated that 60 to 70 per cent of the crowd on May 15 were foreign workers. 

The watches are only available in-store, and can be bought from Swatch stores at Ion Orchard, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands and VivoCity from May 16. Each buyer is limited to one watch a day.

Taking cues from the Royal Oak timepieces

Inspired by Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak timepieces, the highly anticipated collection features its signature octagonal bezel and hexagonal screws. The Royal Oak line was introduced in 1972 and can cost around US$19,900 (S$25,500) for an entry-level model today.

The collection features eight colourways and two case styles, and each watch retails at $535 and $570, depending on design. Each timepiece comes with one calfskin lanyard. Buyers can buy up to three lanyards a day, according to Swatch’s website.

The Royal Pop watches have been marketed as pocket watches rather than wristwatches – a move that has drawn mixed reviews online.

While some collectors believe Audemars Piguet timepieces remain highly desirable regardless of design, others have criticised the collection’s playful aesthetic, describing it as childish and toy-like.

In response to queries from ST, Swatch said the Royal Pop watches were made to be versatile. It added that even without a wristband, watch owners can experiment with different ways of wearing it, such as by weaving a silk scarf through its holder clip.

Its relative affordability is a big draw, with multiple people telling ST that it was why they felt it necessary to begin queueing as early as Friday evening.

“Royal Oak retails for about $30,000 and the resale price is around $50,000. Not everyone has money like this, right? So, to be able to have something like this is pretty cool,” said Ms Zuzanna Neziri, 38, an executive director at a non-governmental organisation. 

Elsewhere in the world, watch fans reportedly started queueing outside Swatch stores from as early as five days ahead of its sale date.

In New York, people were seen sitting on foldable chairs in a snaking queue around the block, while in Hong Kong, queues began forming outside the Causeway Bay Swatch store three days before the sales launch.

Buyers in the queue outside Ion Orchard were ushered to the Swatch store in small groups of five to 10 people, with police officers and security guards seen in the vicinity. 

Swatch told ST it was “working closely with mall management and the local authorities to actively manage the crowd”.

The line was orderly – a stark contrast to the situation in March 2022, when Swiss luxury watchmaker Omega and Swatch’s MoonSwatch collection was released for sale, said some in the queue.

On the day of the MoonSwatch launch at Ion Orchard, one person was reported to have fainted in the crush and had to be attended to by first aiders.

At around 6am on May 16, Swatch Singapore’s Instagram account (@swatchsingapore) posted on its Stories that its VivoCity store would be closed for the day due to the overwhelming crowd.

One potential buyer took to Instagram to lament the unclear queueing instructions and closure of the VivoCity store. In a video, he said he had paid $2,500 for nine personal shoppers to queue at the store, only for it to close at around 6am. 

Satisfied buyers

Mr Lim Jun Yu, 20, who recently graduated from Republic Polytechnic, managed to buy the Orenji Hachi model, which has a dark blue case with an orange dial, at the Ion store. After making the purchase, he passed it to a friend to resell and was paid a queueing fee of “around $400”.

“I’m really just here for the experience. Even if the fee was just $20, I would have been happy to do it,” he said. He was 13th in line at 7am and had been at Ion Orchard from around 4.30pm on May 15.

It took around an hour – from 10 to 11am – for the official sale at Ion Orchard to end, with hopeful buyers loitering outside the store told to disperse by security guards. 

A number of those who were waiting near the store appeared to be buyers who had hired personal shoppers, with one woman walking away with around 10 watches she received from people who had made their purchases. 

Mr Yusuf was the second-last person at the Ion Orchard Swatch store who got to purchase a watch. 

He said he was grateful that he managed to buy the Blaue Acht model, which has a lime-green case with a light blue crown – even though his top pick was the Green Eight model, with a green case and a light green crown.

He said: “I felt super lucky I was the second-last because after the confusing queueing situation, I didn’t know if I would have a chance to buy a watch.” 

The budding watch collector plans to keep the watch for personal use, but is considering reselling it for between $1,000 and $2,000 if he decides the colour is not for him. The Royal Pop watch is his first branded collaboration timepiece.

By noon on May 16, at least 80 Royal Pop listings were on Carousell, with the most expensive listing priced at $10,000.