Swatch shuts stores after crowds queue for new watch

4 hours ago

Rumeana Jahangir

News image — Hundreds of people queued outside the Liverpool branch on Saturday morning

BBC Hundreds of people wait in a queue snaking back from the shop entrance on a pedestrianised street. Glass fronted stores line the road on both sides. — Hundreds of people queued outside the Liverpool branch on Saturday morning

Swatch have closed their stores in cities across the UK after hundreds of people queued outside branches eager to buy a new limited watch.

The Swiss firm said it would not open its branches in the capital "in light of safety considerations for both our customers and our staff".

Stores in Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield will also remain closed.

The firm had been due to launch their new "Royal Pop" pocket watch collaboration with luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet, with eight models priced from £335.

However the watch has been put on resale online for up to £16,000.

swatch A modern pocket watch with the words Royal Pop branded on the face in yellow. Dials can be seen behind the glass face, which is frame by yellow and pink outer rings. — The Royal Pop pocket watches have been eagerly anticipated by many fans

Better known for their colourful watches from the 1980s, AP Swatch have described the items as "a disruptive collaboration between two icons of Swiss watchmaking".

BBC News has contacted AP Swatch for a comment.

Instagram/Swatch Screengrab of Swatch's Instagram with its posts saying stores were shut. — Massive queues shut Swatch stores in Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Sheffield and Glasgow as hundreds clamoured for £335 limited edition watch

In the Liverpool One retail area, some shoppers had been camping for two days outside the Paradise Street store.

Merseyside Police said they received a report that "a group of males were acting in an aggressive manner and making threats" outside the shop at about 07:00 BST on Saturday.

"Officers attended and the crowd dispersed shortly afterwards," a force spokesperson added.

EPA Scores of people sit and stand as they wait outside a store with various watch firms branded on a store window. There is tree inthe middle of them. — Fans have also been queuing for days outside the Tokyo branch

Queues had also been building up outside Swatch's branches internationally, including in New York where watch enthusiasts had been camping for a week, with reports that some had become unwell during the wait.

The firm also cancelled its launch event at Dubai Mall in the United Arab Emirates following a large turnout.

EPA A line of people stand or sit on the pavement outside the headquarters, which has a shiny metal curved exterior. — Queues have been building up next to Swatch headquarters in Biel, Switzerland

Swatch has said the new watches were inspired by the Pop Art movement of the 1950s and 60s.

They called it "a groundbreaking watch collection that combines joyful boldness and positive provocation with fine watchmaking".

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