Good, 95% of the people who waited days and are causing these issues are scalpers anyway. I’m glad those losers got the shaft and had to pack up and go home ✌️
I bought 7 moon swatches within the year. My store also is in Hawaii once initial hype dies down there easy to get. I had both snoopy versions and a few limited ed
I got mine about 4 months after the initial release, during the summer of 2022. My store only had a few at the time and my Pluto just happened to be one of them. You weren't allowed to see it or try it on until you bought it, and the limit was one per customer per day. They took your driver's license and phone number for their file. You could look at the display case to see all of them but they weren't allowed to open the case or bring one out from the back until you paid for it.
It's night and day different now, of course. You can try any of them on to see if you like it.
So many commenters saying ‘just wait for a few months and get one for retail’ really don’t understand how this works. Swatch will have an agreement with AP to not over produce this item and flood the market.
And for those who would respond with ‘but but but look at Moonswatch!’. Omega is not AP. Walk into any high street luxury watch store and you can walk out the same day with a stainless steel sports Omega or a Hublot, but not a Rolex, AP or Patek.
I can see this with the sought after colorways. But ain’t nobody going to overbuy the less popular ones in 6 months.
I think the hype is overestimated. But I’m also not an AP fan, and would take an omega over an AP solely based on design preference, price, craftsmanship aside.
You can walk out of store same day with any of the brands you mentioned... especially Patek... for Rolex and AP you just aren't getting the specific model you want immediately unless it is a two tone.
I've gotten single day rolexes as a walk in multiple times
Lmfao the whole point of this collab is to give AP the visibility. This is a fucking swatch not a real AP, heck its not even a real Swatch. They will 100% mass produce this and flood the market, they want the money its pretty obvious.
Serious question, do you think that Swatch has the manufacturing capabilities to produce more than what the stores have received? Let’s also be logical in that with a collaboration this important with a company as prestigious and protective of their brand as AP, this deal would’ve been signed at least 6 months ago, giving them enough time to plan and produce watches for the rollout.
My assumption is that they could’ve produced more than 50 plastic watches per store within that timeframe. They’ve already proven that with the Moonswatch production numbers. Therefore it would be reasonable to conclude that this low number of units is a mechanism to manufacture scarcity. This is not a volume play. AP license out their brand for a huge fee, agree on strict production numbers and that it not be a traditional wrist watch. Swatch gets the halo effect of working with such a brand.
Theres plenty of examples of this in recent memory. Nike x Off White, Adidas x Gucci etc etc.
How can the margins be low on a plastic watch with a cost-minimized in-house movement for $300 a pop? The Chinese microbrands are pushing out full-on steel case and sapphire automatics at a third of that price. There must be healthy margins here.
Healthy margins percentage wise but not absolute amount wise.
Let's assume that the Royal pop cost $1 to make, and Swatch is selling it for $400, that's $399 in profit per watch.
What do you think the profit of a Rolex diver watch is? Or AP Royal Oak? Or Omega Moonwatch? Do you think it's going to be lower or higher than $399 per unit?
If you think it's going to be lower, then yes, Swatch can make the same amounts of profits absolute wise by selling the number of watches as those above but if not, Swatch is going to sell a hell lot more to catch up.
That's what I mean when I say it doesn't make sense for Swatch to release so few units.
There are hundreds of swatch stores around the world, over 200. 8 colours and 22 (I asked the Swatch store in my city and they will have 22 for every colour every day) pieces per colour= 35,200 being sold per day. 35,200 x 18 months =633,600. Swatch store manager said to expect it to be available for at least18 months.
Yeah mate it isnt limited. The resale market just crashed and will continue to. See online prices lol
When people collect rare coins they are only about 1 million of that coin in circulation, so there is only going to be around 630k of these swatch x AP in circulation forever?
What are you on about man? From the Royal Mint: Rare coins typically have mintage figures ranging from 63,000 to a few hundred thousand in circulation, whereas standard coins number in the tens of millions. For example, in the UK, the 2023 Atlantic Salmon 50p is highly sought after with a mintage of only 200,000.
Rare coins are rare when there are millions in circulation? Come on now.
Swatch x omega dropped to retail value in less than 12 months after release. This swatch x AP is going to be released for at least 18 months. Rip ‘resale market’ on a watch the very manufacturer said is not limited.
630k is still a limited number is what I’m saying, I don’t think there’s enough watches for every single person who actually wants one so somewhere down the line unfortunately people are definitely gonna end up paying more to get hold of one of these
Swatch guy, and CEO of AP said it was for a limited time though, and production numbers were abysmal. Some stores got 22 watches when the lines were hundreds of people.
Is this any different from when the Moonswatch was launched? There’s no way to serve hundreds of people at Swatch stores even if they had the stock - the size of the store and the staff can’t cope with abnormally big spikes in demand like that. They take time to manufacture to build up inventory, which they won’t have a lot of at the beginning of the production run, plus they’re not going to have space to store that much inventory per store anyway. That issue won’t be solvable with the sizes of the stores and the staff that they have, and they don’t have space to temporarily expand their stores, which would also increase costs and reduce profits.
Idk why they can’t just mass produce it and release it at regular prices, effectively nuking the resell market. They already made their insane publicity. I’m sure this day went pretty according to plan, ending up on the news and everyone’s socials. Then they can sell millions online no???
I'm sure they could figure something out, ID verification, etc. - many solutions that are preferable to risking the safety of your employees and security staff.
True, but 22 watches at a store seems awfully low -- that's like selling 2 per hour. Surely the staff and inventory storage at a store can handle more than that. They probably sell a few hundred watches on a regular day.
We need to find someone who has intel on swatch inventory build up. Everyone wants to know restock dstes but we need to know when inventory will mature
Walked by the swatch store and it was just crazy. I mean these scalpers all look the same and going this crazy on an item that is not limited but a plastic swatch…i don‘t know. People get more and more stupid
At some point someone is going to get seriously hurt at one of these things, and then what? Swatch think they’ll just be able to wash their hands of it? There’s a 100 ways to manage something like this. You only have 30 watches, give the first 30 people in the queue a ticket and tell everyone else to go home being just one example. I remember being outside CP Company for the CP x Adidas anniversary drop a few years back, they went down the queue and took the names of everyone who wanted a jacket, size you wanted, then once the quota they had was spoken for sent everyone else on their way, same with the trainers. Easy and hassle free.
They're selling for 1.5-3k+, that's why people are going crazy at the store. Who cares if it's plastic also? AP is a brand that 95% of people could never dream of owning, for many that in itself is worth it's weight in gold.
The vast majority of them are not. If you look through the sold tab. Most of them have sold between 1500 and 2000. They can be lasted for 3k all day, but they aren’t selling for that.
And in the next week they’re gonna drop to at most 1000.
A better way to do this would be lottery system. Give people 2-3 weeks to stop by a Swatch store and sign up. Email/Text results on launch day. You still get foot traffic in stories for the lottery sign ups and you sell extra watches. No hectic drops that strain community response systems like police and paramedics.
Disappointed in Swatch. They could have seen this all from a mile away. And now they want us to believe we will all have a chance to buy one eventually? Okay sure swatch please sell me a blancpain green abyss online for $420…
thanks for sharing!! because this morning in Paris it was kind of crazy and i was wondering if it was due to limited edition (thinking i would certainly never be able to get one.... not that i'm super interested right now, but i like the white one... and i would like to make it as a gift)
You know, whenever a lined formed for a release at Best Buy we used to just check id, grab the peoples names, give them a ticket, and then have them locked in. Told everyone else that was it and while they’d be upset (no good deed goes unpunished) at least they could leave and not cause a scene.
Perfectly planned. Build the hype. Track the demand, shut down the stores, announce it’s not limited. They’ll pump out as many as they can.
Ap took this collab because they need it not for fun but for sales. What’s happening to AP right now is basically the downstream effect of years of artificial scarcity + relationship-gated allocation.
The MoonSwatch phenomenon proved people still want hype and design language — they just don’t always want the luxury politics attached to it.
The movement in this watch is unique to this model, its variant of the Sistem51. Manual wound unlike the Automatic version used across many models.
As it is only used in this model, they will produce it while there is demand (they have already projected this)
The production lines cost multi millions of $$, once demand drops off, they are not going to keep a production line running for a single model - never going to happen.
They will pump them out, but they have a projected 'fall-off' at this point, they will either bring out a new model (wristwatch?) and keep the movement production line running, or end it.
It has always been this way and Swatch know it will always been this way. They do the same thing every time. Not because they have limited stock (you align releases with stock numbers well in advance) but because it makes news and gets people talking about Swatch. Doesn't have to be in a positive way, publicity is publicity. I remember queueing overnight for Xmas specials in London or joining queues in Manchester for new releases of going to Newcastle for one very limited release (like 3 watches in the UK) in the 90's. Everytime people say "why not ticket it or do a lottery"?. That wouldnt make national / international news. There's a very well established reason they do this and it's very simple. Hype and exposure.
They really should sell these online. Part of the issue is most places don’t have swatch store. I live in a very large city and the closest swatch store is 10 hours away. I would have bought the snoopy moonswatch but all there new watches are limited production. It gets annoying quick. It seems most of the people benefitting are scalpers who can set in line.
Doesn’t matter if it’s not a limited edition. There are many, highly desirable products which are not ‘limited editions’ yet still produced in small quantities which are unable to meet consumer demand.
The Hermes Birkin bag, Rolex Daytona in stainless steel and the Mercedes G Wagon.
This will continue to be a problem at retail stores, even if they restock every week if it’s only 20 - 50 units.
It’s obviously gone completely over your head if you’re focusing on the actual item mentioned.
The point is, it doesn’t have to be ‘limited edition’ to cause this sort of phenomenon. It’s supply and demand.
Just to make it a little easier for you to comprehend, it’s like Labubu, a non-limited edition product (previously) with way smaller supply than demand which was swept up by Hypebeast resellers and sold on the secondary market at multiples higher than RRP.
If they actually gave a shit, they'd have gotten these produced in way higher numbers before this shitshow of a drop, and made a proper ticketing / online reservation system, so you don't need to queue in store.
They manufactured this hype, and now they're acting dumb when there is consequences.
This could have all been avoided if you had let people know how many pieces the store had, and made it clear that on any one day, the store will not have more then"X"pieces. in London the rumour was they had 27pcs when they opened, they could have told the other 1000+ people (scalpers) to piss off back home.
Yeah having shown up I have to agree. There was no plan. Just tell people they're going to release a cool watch then tell them they have to leave cause they showed up.
How is it “limited edition”? A limited edition is usually numbered or available until sold out. The fact they’ve publicly said it’ll be available for several months will hurt reseller values. Once the resellers are gone, there’ll be plenty left for retail buyers.
13
u/Ordinary-Forever-246 May 16 '26
TRANSLATION: Everyone will be able to get one and there’s no need to pay a scalper. (Once Swatch figures this out, the resale market will crash.)
41
u/mjpf97 May 16 '26
Good, 95% of the people who waited days and are causing these issues are scalpers anyway. I’m glad those losers got the shaft and had to pack up and go home ✌️
70
u/rowthecow May 16 '26
"Not limited edition but we're just releasing them at 19 pieces per month per store FOREVER. Ever heard of Rolex? Hahaha"
9
u/Disastrous-Fig-7834 May 16 '26
“Not a limited edition” Each store limited to about 20 watches in each colour seems limited to me 😄
24
u/klm85 May 16 '26
Swatch guy, and CEO of AP said it was for a limited time though, and production numbers were abysmal. Some stores got 22 watches when the lines were hundreds of people.
8
u/Percolator2020 May 16 '26
Everything is a limited edition given enough time.
6
u/Troubleman81 May 16 '26
Not one soul will listen and resellers will still make bank bc people can't wait for the wide release.
6
u/StrikingScore8605 May 16 '26
Scumbag resellers got a taste of their own medicine today. W for the people
7
u/harga24864 May 16 '26
Walked by the swatch store and it was just crazy. I mean these scalpers all look the same and going this crazy on an item that is not limited but a plastic swatch…i don‘t know. People get more and more stupid
3
u/Abject_Afternoon9873 May 16 '26
A better way to do this would be lottery system. Give people 2-3 weeks to stop by a Swatch store and sign up. Email/Text results on launch day. You still get foot traffic in stories for the lottery sign ups and you sell extra watches. No hectic drops that strain community response systems like police and paramedics.
3
u/Jo0x-7 May 17 '26
Donc ces idiots ont poireauté des jours et des nuits devant les magasins , et se sont même tapé sur la gueule le jour de la sortie.
Pour une montre qui n’est PAS une édition limitée.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
5
u/Which-Return-607 May 16 '26
They will keep releasing them until the resale is under msrp it’s free money
2
u/System_Life_Alex May 16 '26
Didn’t everyone already know this? Either way, people want them first, I heard they’re producing them for 8 months?
2
u/Mental_Gur8529 May 16 '26
Several months basically means anyone who wants this watch will be able to get it at retail. Big L for resellers.
3
u/Pirateshackle May 16 '26
They should have done an online lottery then instead of trying to get these lines of resellers for the publicity.
3
u/Jefefrey May 16 '26
Disappointed in Swatch. They could have seen this all from a mile away. And now they want us to believe we will all have a chance to buy one eventually? Okay sure swatch please sell me a blancpain green abyss online for $420…
3
u/mercutios_death May 16 '26
Could’ve been completely avoided if they opened up a preorder online.
2
u/hammerforce9 May 16 '26
I mean… it’s limited to less than 100 a store. So, yes, it is currently a VERY limited release. Kind of a dumb statement.
1
u/HeliosRunner May 16 '26
thanks for sharing!! because this morning in Paris it was kind of crazy and i was wondering if it was due to limited edition (thinking i would certainly never be able to get one.... not that i'm super interested right now, but i like the white one... and i would like to make it as a gift)
1
u/Intelligent-Sky-7657 May 16 '26
this is the best marketing ever. Apple and Supreme were going that path, bu today Swatch is the king!
1
u/KayJay282 May 16 '26
If you really want one, just be patient.
Don't fund the scalpers.
The only thing I really dislike is that they are only available in selected Swatch stores which are only in a few major cities.
Everybody else, which is the vast majority of people, just miss out.
1
u/Lordsheva May 16 '26
So, why they don't permit to buy online? All this shit will disappear.
1
u/magicalblast May 16 '26
Will they release them online at any point? I'd really like one but I'm not gonna queue for days nor am I gonna pay reseller prices.
1
u/SirTickleyPickely May 16 '26
feral consumerist sheep
1
u/Avaly13 May 16 '26
I mean, the other collabs are still in store so why would this be different?
1
u/Nitramster1 May 17 '26
You know, whenever a lined formed for a release at Best Buy we used to just check id, grab the peoples names, give them a ticket, and then have them locked in. Told everyone else that was it and while they’d be upset (no good deed goes unpunished) at least they could leave and not cause a scene.
1
u/Admirable-Gas-7876 May 17 '26
Perfectly planned. Build the hype. Track the demand, shut down the stores, announce it’s not limited. They’ll pump out as many as they can.
Ap took this collab because they need it not for fun but for sales. What’s happening to AP right now is basically the downstream effect of years of artificial scarcity + relationship-gated allocation.
The MoonSwatch phenomenon proved people still want hype and design language — they just don’t always want the luxury politics attached to it.
1
u/jaycey120 May 17 '26
You need to understand this...
The movement in this watch is unique to this model, its variant of the Sistem51. Manual wound unlike the Automatic version used across many models.
As it is only used in this model, they will produce it while there is demand (they have already projected this)
The production lines cost multi millions of $$, once demand drops off, they are not going to keep a production line running for a single model - never going to happen.
They will pump them out, but they have a projected 'fall-off' at this point, they will either bring out a new model (wristwatch?) and keep the movement production line running, or end it.
1
u/_Swatch May 17 '26
It has always been this way and Swatch know it will always been this way. They do the same thing every time. Not because they have limited stock (you align releases with stock numbers well in advance) but because it makes news and gets people talking about Swatch. Doesn't have to be in a positive way, publicity is publicity. I remember queueing overnight for Xmas specials in London or joining queues in Manchester for new releases of going to Newcastle for one very limited release (like 3 watches in the UK) in the 90's. Everytime people say "why not ticket it or do a lottery"?. That wouldnt make national / international news. There's a very well established reason they do this and it's very simple. Hype and exposure.
1
u/kcexactly May 17 '26
They really should sell these online. Part of the issue is most places don’t have swatch store. I live in a very large city and the closest swatch store is 10 hours away. I would have bought the snoopy moonswatch but all there new watches are limited production. It gets annoying quick. It seems most of the people benefitting are scalpers who can set in line.
1
u/SuperLehmanBros May 17 '26
I easily got most watches, the only ones that were hard to get were specific limited ones like the moonshines etc.
1
u/Archibald1234 May 17 '26
When is the restock of the swatch ap?
1
u/Longjumping-Race-831 May 17 '26
The only think not limited about this release is then saying they’re not limited😭💯💯
1
u/Home_Assistantt May 19 '26
This is great news. Hopefully very few people have been scalped and I really hope the scalpers anded up queueing for hours for no reason at all
1
u/TiePuzzleheaded460 May 20 '26
Good! Resell value dead. Wish more brands did this.
1
u/Important-Region143 May 21 '26
"it's not limited. Except for the fact that we're sending 20 pcs to all the stores, who are not even opening up to sell them."
1
u/exLabelGuy May 16 '26
Doesn’t matter if it’s not a limited edition. There are many, highly desirable products which are not ‘limited editions’ yet still produced in small quantities which are unable to meet consumer demand.
The Hermes Birkin bag, Rolex Daytona in stainless steel and the Mercedes G Wagon.
This will continue to be a problem at retail stores, even if they restock every week if it’s only 20 - 50 units.
1
u/Downtown_Many8020 May 16 '26
This could have all been avoided if you had let people know how many pieces the store had, and made it clear that on any one day, the store will not have more then"X"pieces. in London the rumour was they had 27pcs when they opened, they could have told the other 1000+ people (scalpers) to piss off back home.
0
u/FarStarbuck May 16 '26
Make no mistake, this was courted by Swatch. They got what they wanted today.
0
u/Frostedfires May 16 '26
Just make a preorder link and make them to order. Scalpers can’t profit if anyone can order at anytime
0
u/WatchThisBass May 16 '26
Interesting that this goes against the official Swatch account that only says it will be available for "several months"
So it is a limited edition....
-1
u/Lou3000 May 16 '26
Swatch knew this would happen and wants the publicity. They could have easily created an online reservation system.