Dozens of Swatch stores shut down globally on Saturday as crowds swarmed the locations in hopes of snagging the newly released line of Royal Pop pocket watches, including one inside Denver’s Cherry Creek Shopping Center.
“Today’s Bioceramic Royal Pop Collection launch saw extraordinarily high demand,” Swatch officials said Saturday in a . “Some of our stores had to be closed in accordance with our security staff and local authorities to ensure a safe environment for everyone.”
Denver police officers responded to reports of a disturbance at the Cherry Creek mall at about 7:35 a.m. Saturday, department spokesperson Sgt. Jay Casillas said. The mall was cleared out, and no arrests were made, he said.
The Cherry Creek Shopping Center is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays.
appeared to show people swarming the Denver mall on Saturday, hoping to snag one of the Swiss watchmaker’s from its new collaboration with , a luxury watch brand. Comments on those videos claimed that customers had broken open the doors to rush into line.
Mall officials did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
Another appeared to show a sign in the store’s window stating that the Denver location would remain closed that day. Swatch did not immediately respond to requests for comment or questions about when the store would reopen. The Cherry Creek location did not answer the phone to confirm the closure.
The collection is based on Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak design and Swatch’s vibrant POP line from the 1980s, according to the . The — which launched globally on Saturday — retail for between $400 and $420. Audemars Piguet’s watches sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
“To ensure the safety of both our customers and our staff in Swatch stores, we kindly ask you not to rush our stores in large numbers to acquire this product,” Swatch officials said in a statement posted to several of the brand’s social media accounts. The collection is not limited-edition and will be available for several months, officials added.
The chaos was not limited to Denver, stretching across the country and overseas.
appeared to show police using pepper spray to disperse crowds at the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, and hundreds of shoppers swarmed stores in Times Square and Manhattan, . At least one person was arrested, according to the outlet.
Swatch ultimately shuttered dozens stores, including in California, Canada, Colorado, England, Florida, France, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.
As of Sunday afternoon, hundreds of the highly sought pocket watches had been for thousands of dollars.
