The high anticipation for the sale of the Royal Pop collection, a collaboration between Swatch and luxury brand Audemars Piguet, generated queues of up to 300 people at the doors of the Barcelona establishment. These new models, with a limited run and a price around 400 euros, are inspired by an original Audemars Piguet watch that can reach 20,000 euros.

The global sales campaign, previously announced by Swatch, has caused similar situations in other cities worldwide. In Barcelona, sources from the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Guardia Urbana reported that people had been queuing for days, including the night before, outside the store located at Passeig de Gràcia and Gran Via.

According to EFE, these watches are highly sought after by resellers, who estimate they could quadruple in value. The massive influx of people created moments of tension and made the normal opening of the store impossible. Three vans from the ARRO riot unit of the Mossos d’Esquadra and several patrols from the Guardia Urbana were dispatched to the scene to ensure safety.

The brand opted not to open the doors of the main store. A second Swatch store, located in the Illa Diagonal shopping center, also experienced a large influx of buyers shortly after opening, forcing it to temporarily close its doors. The sale of this collection took place simultaneously in Tokyo, Geneva, Singapore, London, and New York.

In its Instagram promotion, Swatch announced eight unique pocket watches, the result of a collaboration between "two Swiss icons." The collection reinterprets the emblematic Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet with the Swatch POP watches of the 1980s, incorporating a new version of the SISTEM51 movement with a manual winding caliber and a Pop Art finish.