Overnight queues and sell-outs mark Singapore launch of Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop

Long queues formed overnight outside Swatch stores across Singapore on Saturday, 16 May 2026, ahead of the launch of the Royal Pop collection, developed in collaboration with Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet.

Stocks at two of the three participating outlets sold out within hours, whilst the VivoCity store closed early due to overcrowding. Police and mall security were deployed at multiple locations to manage the crowds.

At Ion Orchard, people began gathering as early as 4pm on Friday, 15 May, the day before the official sales launch. By 11.15am on Saturday, all available stock had been sold in under two hours.

The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) outlet similarly sold out its daily allocation after processing an organised queue. The VivoCity store announced its closure mid-morning, citing an overwhelming crowd.

In an Instagram Story, Swatch Singapore stated the VivoCity closure was a collective decision reached with local authorities to ensure the health and safety of staff and customers.

By 8am on Saturday, an estimated 150 to 200 people were in line at the Ion Orchard store. Many had spent the night equipped with foldable chairs, portable fans and snacks.

Some buyers attempted their luck across multiple outlets, only to find that queues at alternative locations had already been capped by the time they arrived.

Overnight drama and disputes

Not all queueing experiences were peaceful. Some who had arrived as early as 4pm on Friday and spent the night in camping chairs reported that police and security repeatedly asked their groups to leave.

Those who did ultimately make it to the cashier described the process as among the most challenging queueing experiences they had encountered, citing instances of pushing and shoving outside the store, even as service inside was praised.

Another buyer recounted to the media that certain individuals allegedly attempted to mislead other queuers by falsely claiming the mall entrance was located elsewhere, prompting several people to abandon their spots.

At MBS, some queuers voiced displeasure over reports of two separate queue sections, one of which was said to guarantee entry to 50 customers. Swatch staff subsequently denied this arrangement.

A market for paid queueing

The launch attracted substantial commercial activity beyond direct purchases. Checks conducted on 15 May found at least 70 listings on Carousell, with users offering queueing services for fees ranging from approximately S$300 to S$500.

Resale listings for the watch appeared on the same platform, reaching as high as S$2,000 prior to launch day.

A number of foreign workers were observed queueing at Ion Orchard on behalf of buyers, many of whom said they had found the opportunity through platforms such as Telegram and Facebook.

Rusky Ahmad, 22, a Sri Lankan national, had been at Ion Orchard since 6pm on 15 May. He told The Straits Times that he expected to earn S$150 to S$200 for a successful purchase but would receive nothing if he failed.

Ahmad later confirmed he was unable to buy a watch and received no payment. He had hoped to use the earnings to send money home and to contribute towards rental costs.

ITE College East student Yusuf Ismail, 18, who arrived at Ion Orchard at approximately 4pm on 15 May, estimated that between 60 and 70 per cent of those present that evening were foreign workers.

Resale activity was also visible on launch day itself. Deni, 24, from Myanmar, said he joined the queue at MBS at 2pm on Friday and, having secured a watch, sold it immediately for an additional S$500.

The buyer was He Qiao Mu, 25, a student who had spent the morning outside the store distributing bubble tea to encourage others to purchase on his behalf. He Qiao Mu said he also intended to resell the piece.

Online resale listings on Carousell ranged widely, with one watch listed at as much as S$10,000.

About the Royal Pop collection

The Royal Pop range is not a traditional wristwatch. The eight-model collection draws inspiration from Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak line, introduced in 1972, and from Swatch's Pop watches of the 1980s.

Entry-level Royal Oak models today retail at approximately US$19,900 (S$25,500), making the Royal Pop's price point of S$535 to S$570 considerably more accessible for many buyers.

The pocket watches feature the Royal Oak's signature octagonal bezel and hexagonal screws, and are mounted on calfskin lanyards. They can be worn around the neck, carried in a pocket or used as a bag charm.

The range includes six Lepine-style models, with the winding crown at 12 o'clock, and two Savonette-style versions, with the crown at 3 o'clock and a small seconds subdial at 6 o'clock.

Each watch is housed in a 40mm Bioceramic case powered by a hand-wound Sistem51 movement offering a 90-hour power reserve. The front and back of each case are fitted with sapphire crystals.

Watches retail at S$535 and S$570 depending on design and are available exclusively in-store at Ion Orchard, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands and VivoCity. Purchases are limited to one watch per person per day. The collection is not a limited edition.

Accessibility as the key draw

The Royal Pop's relative affordability compared with standard Audemars Piguet pieces was a consistent motivator cited by those who joined the queue.

Zuzanna Neziri, 38, executive director of a non-governmental organisation, told ST that the collection's pricing made ownership accessible to those who could not afford the flagship range.

"Royal Oak retails for about S$30,000 and the resale price is around S$50,000. Not everyone has money like this, right? So, to be able to have something like this is pretty cool," she said.

Ben, an Audemars Piguet collector who did not manage to purchase a watch on Saturday, said the Royal Pop offered an accessible entry point into the brand.

He suggested that potential resale value may have drawn buyers whose interest lay less in the watch than in financial gain.

The launch follows a pattern established by earlier Swatch collaborations, including the Omega MoonSwatch release in 2022, which triggered global queues from as early as 5.30am. Swatch also partnered with Blancpain in 2023 for the latter's iconic Fifty Fathoms dive watch.

Online reaction: scalpers, sceptics and design critics

The launch triggered widespread commentary on Facebook and the Reddit community r/singapore, with sentiment on both platforms largely critical of the crowd behaviour and the collection itself.

The dominant theme was the prevalence of scalpers. One Facebook commenter estimated that approximately 90 per cent of those in the queue were resellers rather than genuine collectors, a view echoed repeatedly across both platforms.

Screenshots shared in online comments showed Carousell listings emerging within hours of the launch. Individual pieces were priced at between S$1,388 and S$10,000, with one full set listed at S$13,888.

Several commenters questioned the logic of queueing overnight for a non-limited product. One Reddit user argued that those driven purely by fear of missing out should simply wait, as the Royal Pop would in all likelihood remain available at retail price.

One Facebook commenter drew an analogy between the collaboration and attaching a luxury car badge to a budget vehicle, then asking triple the standard price for it.

Others were more measured. One Reddit commenter acknowledged that for many buyers, the Royal Pop represented the closest they would ever come to owning a product bearing the Audemars Piguet name.

Several social media users questioned the watch's material credentials, noting that the Royal Pop uses a Bioceramic case and a Swatch-manufactured movement, with no Audemars Piguet mechanical components whatsoever.

One Reddit user calculated that a buyer queueing from 3pm on 15 May until the 10am store opening on 16 May, expecting a S$500 resale premium, would have earned approximately S$35 per hour.

The same commenter suggested a conventional part-time job would have offered comparable returns for considerably less discomfort.

On crowd management, one Facebook commenter argued that Swatch could have avoided the overnight disorder entirely by taking orders online and using a ballot system, given the non-limited nature of the collection.

The launch also revived memories of the 2022 MoonSwatch release in Singapore, during which a man was filmed daring police managing the queue to shoot him. The incident became widely circulated and was frequently referenced in online anticipation of similar scenes.

The Singapore frenzy was not without international parallel. One Reddit user reported that the Perth launch sold out in approximately six minutes.

Several commenters on Reddit pointed out that the Omega MoonSwatch, which generated comparable scenes in 2022, remains available at retail price in stores today. They urged prospective buyers to exercise patience rather than join overnight queues.