Swatch Calls for Calm After Police Intervene in Global Royal Pop Watch Release Chaos
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The company at the center of it all, Swatch, no stranger to over-the-top retail outbreaks, said it was time to chill. The Swiss watchmaker said Monday that there’s no shortage of its Royal Pop pocket watch, a collaboration with Audemars Piguet’s luxury timepieces.
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New York PostViral video of the incident posted on X shows a lone officer getting pummeled by a crowd of would-buyers going psycho for Swatch in a frenzy the limited edition “Royal Pop” watch – a collaborative pocket watch created by Audemars Piguet and Swatch that comes with a price tag of more than $400.
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This past weekend, the Swatch store in festive Carnaby Street again drew a line of people, this time ahead of the release of the Royal Pop. A mob of several dozen blocked the sidewalk at the Swatch store on nearby Oxford Street on Sunday, just before it opened. Then police closed all Swatch stores in London and several other U.K. cities. News outlets around the world reported similar scenes, with shuttered stores in the Netherlands and a “mosh pit” vibe in New York’s Times Square.
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BBC NewsLarge crowds of people have being queuing outside Swatch stores worldwide, with some shops having to close over safety considerations.
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Police had to be called to deal with large gathering of shoppers outside some stores in the UK, France and Switzerland as people gathered to buy the new pocket watch made in collaboration with Audemars Piguet.
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ABC NewsPolice were called to break up fights between shoppers outside limited-edition watch collaboration events between Swatch and Audemars Piguet in Milan and New York City.
New York PostHundreds of shoppers lined up outside the Topanga Westfield mall in LA starting on Friday night in hopes of getting a pocket watch, the latest “Royal Pop” collaboration between Swatch and Audemars Piguet.
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7 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 Washington Times A white police officer in Connecticut who fatally shot a Black man suffering a mental health crisis has been charged with manslaughter after a state investigation found he failed to de-escalate the confrontation.
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02 Associated Press A new Swatch model is introduced, and a case study in overexcited ‘drop culture’ plays out
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03 New York Post The 22-year-old Auburn graduate allegedly killed by her boyfriend’s father was accidentally shot as he showed off a loaded antique gun, according to a lawsuit filed by her parents.
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04 BBC News A man told the BBC he managed to buy a watch for £335 and resell it for "just over £1,000".
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05 ABC News May 17, 2026 Bystanders tackle car-ramming driver in Modena, Italy May 17, 2026 Pepper spray deployed during watch release events
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06 The Guardian US In the early morning hours of 14 January 2024, a hitman slipped into the renowned New York City gallerist Brent Sikkema’s Rio de Janeiro townhouse.
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07 Washington Post A city’s AI license plate cameras led to an uproar and a state of emergency In Troy, New York, residents and city officials are at odds over police use of Flock cameras, which some call a safety tool and others see as surveillance.
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- abc
- nypost
- washtimes
- wapo
- guardian
- bbc
- ap
- usatoday