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'I waited 11 hours': Dubai AP x Swatch watch launch ends in disappointment
'At around 3am, people were trying to break into Dubai Mall to get into the line; by that time, it was getting dangerous,' said one resident
- PUBLISHED: Sat 16 May 2026, 1:07 PM UPDATED: Sun 17 May 2026, 1:09 PM
Dubai resident M. Qasim arrived at Dubai Mall on Friday night at 11pm in the hope of getting his hands on one of the unique pocket watches of the Royal Pop collection, a landmark collaboration between Swiss watchmakers Audemars Piguet (AP) and Swatch.
Despite spending over 11 hours in the mall, he was one of the hundreds of people who were bitterly disappointed when the companies decided to cancel the event in view of public safety.
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“I am still in the mall hoping that the store will open and I can get lucky enough to get my hands on one of those pocket watches,” Qasim told Khaleej Times at 11am on Saturday. “I know there are many more people like me in Dubai Mall right now. However, security is not allowing us to even stand in front of the shop right now.”
The collection merges the avant‑garde design of Audemars Piguet's iconic Royal Oak with the modular ingenuity of Swatch's vibrant POP line from the 1980s and resulted in eight statement pieces.
Qasim said that the idea of an affordable AP watch was the biggest pull for him. “Those watches are generally very expensive and out of reach for a regular person,” he said. “But with this collab, it was a chance for many like me to pick up a collector’s piece at reasonable prices.”
According to Yashkaran Bangera, watch enthusiast and founder of The Gentleman’s Community, the collaboration successfully opened a door for luxury brands to reach a wider audience. “Buyers can buy this product priced at just under Dh2,000, compared to a minimum of Dh200,000 for a real Audemars Piguet,” he said, adding that it is an opportunity to buy into a cool collaboration at a very accessible price, comparing the trend to sneaker collecting — where limited drops and queuing culture drive demand.
Another Dubai resident Shabaz said that there were many buyers who were looking to make a quick profit. "Once the watches are sold out, many buyers resell it on the grey market for a higher price," he said. "Some people make a profit of Dh2,000-Dh3,000 with one watch."
Utter chaos
Qasim described scenes of utter chaos at the mall overnight. “At around 3am, people were trying to break into Dubai Mall to get into the line,” he said. “By that time, it was getting dangerous. Security staff tried to disperse the crowd and kept saying that the event was cancelled but people kept waiting, hoping that the shop would eventually open up.”
Swatch took to their social media pages to announce the events at both Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates were cancelled in view of “public safety consideration”.
According to UAE-based watch collector and content creator Emkwan, the enthusiasm for this watch was unmatched. “In all my time covering watch content over the years, I have never seen a hype as intense as this for an unreleased watch,” he told Khaleej Times. “I don’t know if the release is going to be done some other way, maybe in a staggered manner, but I am interested to see what the brands will decide to do.”
Some UAE residents took to social media to express their frustration. One described it as one of the “most poorly managed launches” while another said that he had waited over 18 hours and was bitterly disappointed.
What caused the hype
Yashkaran said that the frenzy around the AP x Swatch collaboration is a mix of genuine excitement and social media-driven hype. "It's less about horology,” he explained. “It's more about the culture, the storytelling, collectability, and mainly the social media buzz.”
However, he added that the collaboration has also divided watch purists. He said that some existing AP owners "are absolutely hating on it because they feel that we've spent hundreds of thousands of dirhams and now Swatch is making it so cheap."
He dismissed that as "a very narrow way to see it," adding that true watch lovers should appreciate the design and the industry's ability to stay relevant. Ultimately, he called the collaboration "a win-win situation" for both the audience and the watch industry. “People are now talking about watches again,” he said. “I see it as something really cool that the younger audiences can taste a piece of luxury. I think it's great.”
Meanwhile, listings of the Royal Pop pocket watched have already popped up on reseller websites, with some asking for up to Dh10,000.
Other events cancelled
The hype of the watch was so intense that other launch events across the world also saw chaos and cancellations. In the Indian cities of Mumbai and Delhi, the launches were cancelled at the Palladium Mall and DLF Avenue respectively, again due to the massive crowds and security reasons.
In Singapore, people began queuing up at various locations as early as 4pm on Friday according to media reports and the watches were sold out in under two hours once the shop opened on Saturday morning. One of the outlets had to close due to the “overwhelming crowd.”
