Crowds and long queues cancel the launch of the new “Swatch” collection

A large turnout and crowding at the two Swatch watch stores in the Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates yesterday morning caused the postponement of the launch event for the new versions of Swatch watches that it launches in cooperation with the luxury brand Audemars Piguet. The two Swatch stores in the two shopping centers witnessed a high demand from consumers who lined up in long queues since the early hours of dawn, hoping to obtain the limited editions of the new watches, as those interested and fans of the Swatch brand began arriving since Friday night (midnight).

“Emirates Today” monitored a large demand and crowding, which caused the two stores to close and the event to be canceled, until a new date was set through the “Swatch” account on the “Instagram” platform and social media accounts, while shoppers continued to inquire about the store’s opening dates, despite the announcement of the cessation of sales operations, in order to preserve the safety of consumers.

In turn, shoppers interviewed by Emirates Today said that they had been planning for some time to buy the new versions, especially those with innovative shapes that are hung on the neck or on bags, expressing their feelings of disappointment, after the decision to postpone the sale. They attributed the large demand by the public to the scarcity of limited editions, while some attributed the crowding to the trading of these editions through resale operations to achieve additional profits. They suggested implementing a pre-booking policy, and making purchases available from multiple outlets, to avoid long queues for purchases.

For their part, security employees in the two shopping centers revealed that the two Swatch stores will resume business tomorrow, Monday, but without selling new releases.

In detail, consumer Dominic Jaco told Emirates Today: “I had been waiting for a long time to buy the new watches that were welcomed by consumers as soon as they were announced, but I was surprised, after long hours of waiting until the store’s start time on Saturday morning, that the queues increased, which caused the launch event to be postponed, the sales process to stop, and the store to close.”

For his part, consumer Gilbert Baijou said: “I felt sad and disappointed, due to the postponement of the event, and my family wanted to buy some of these products, especially the new shapes of watches that are hung on the neck or can be placed on bags and pockets.”

He attributed the high demand and queues to the presence of dealers buying for the purpose of trading and reselling to achieve additional gains, especially since these issues are limited and have received great popularity since the announcement of their launch.

In the same context, consumer Muhammad Karim criticized the organizing process, and said: “It would have been better to implement a pre-booking policy before heading to the store to buy, to avoid long queues and crowds,” pointing out that this caused the event to be canceled in the context of preserving the safety of shoppers.

He agreed with his counterparts that many dealers prefer to buy these products to resell them later and make additional profits, considering that the main reason for the increase in queues at stores.

As for the consumer, Michel Charles, he pointed out that he came early, waiting, so that he could get a “turn” and buy, but he was surprised by a large increase in the crowd and the exaggerated queues. He said that he is anticipating the return of “Swatch” to launch sales in Dubai, supporting the idea of ​​pre-booking, or making purchases available from multiple sales outlets, to contribute to reducing crowding and queues.

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New version

Recently, Audemars Piguet and Swatch revealed their new cooperation by launching an innovative pocket watch called “Royal Pop” as a convertible pocket watch, inspired by the famous “Pop” series launched by the Swatch brand in the 1990s.