New Delhi: Toppled barricades, long queues and complete chaos—this is what marked the launch of much-hyped Audemars Piguet x Swatch “Royal Pop” in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Videos on X and Instagram show restless and unruly crowds and police trying to manage them.
In a video from Phoenix Marketcity, Bengaluru, young men were seen jumping the gates, slipping past the security guards and running toward the store.
Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop release 🚨
Insane crowd in Bangalore , Delhi and mumbai to get in Swatch showrrom.
Flippers trying to make some quick money because of the hype created@itzpradeep @koushik_tweetin @saurabh_gunjal_ @Nick_khandelwal #swatch #royalpop pic.twitter.com/GqwTS4fPbJ
— velms (@velmuruganms) May 16, 2026
In Mumbai, large crowds pushed each other in an attempt to enter the store. The situation escalated, and the store was closed.
The buyers who had been in the queue since 5 am returned home disappointed.
Zerxes Wadia, an influencer with nearly four lakh followers on Instagram, was part of the crowd. He shared a reel of the chaos and said “it is no more fun and games”. He complained about the rowdy crowd, and “the pushing and abusing.”
“It sucked all the joy out of it. I do not even want the watch anymore,” he said in the video.
The reel has more than five million views on Instagram.
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Swatch statement
Swatch has issued a statement on its website and social media handles addressing the fans.
“To ensure the safety of both our customers and our staff in Swatch stores, we kindly ask you not to rush to our stores in large numbers to acquire this product,” it read.
The company also said that the Royal Pop Collection is going to be available for several months. It added that in some countries and regions more than 50 people in a queue will not be accepted. And the sales may be paused.
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What is the hype about
The Royal Pop was launched in select stores across the world. In India, they’re available in the Swatch outlets in Palladium Mall, Mumbai, Phoenix Marketcity, Bengaluru and DLF Avenue, Delhi.
The collaboration between the Swiss watchmakers—Audemars Piguet, a high-end luxury brand and Swatch, an entry-level fashion brand—has been described as one that “breaks the rules of watchmaking”. It was also seen as a way for watch enthusiasts to grab an AP watch at an affordable price. Their usual range starts from around Rs 21 lakh and goes into the crores.
This collaboration is priced at Rs 41,000 for the Lépine model and Rs 44,000 for the Savonnette model. They’re already being resold on secondary marketplaces with prices touching Rs 2 lakh.
The collection “blends the avant-garde design of the iconic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak with the modular creativity of Swatch’s 1980s POP line”. The result is eight bold pocket watches.
Each watch features Swatch’s signature SISTEM51 movement.
Unlike the MoonSwatch collection—a collaboration between Omega and Swatch—the Royal Pop collection was not made available online, forcing buyers to rush to stores.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)