LuxuryWatchesSwatch’s MoonSwatch was the biggest watch story this yearNobody saw it coming, and nine months later it’s still almost impossible to buyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
LuxuryWatchesSwatch’s MoonSwatch was the biggest watch story this yearNobody saw it coming, and nine months later it’s still almost impossible to buyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Nobody saw it coming, and nine months later it’s still almost impossible to buy
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Swatch)
(Image credit: Swatch)
It could have been dismissed as a parody; perhaps an April Fools joke mistakenly released a couple of weeks early. But no. Instead the Switch Group asked the two bookends of its brand catalogue to play nice and produce a watch with the affordable plastic-and-quartz build of a Swatch, but the premium look of an Omega.
And not just any Omega – for many, theSpeedmasteristheOmega. The so-called Moonwatch that blasted into space on the wrists of Niel Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The watch whose chronograph helped the crew of the stricken Apollo 13 return to Earth.
Swatch ripped apart the horological rule book back in March, but on the 26th of that month it failed to launch. Thousands of watch fans (and plenty of scalpers looking to spin a quick buck) queued overnight to get their hands on the boutique-only MoonSwatch. Stores werehopelessly ill-equipped to cope, with no queue management, no security and hardly any stock on the shelves.
(Image credit: Future / Alistair Charlton)
(Image credit: Future / Alistair Charlton)
Stock vanished almost instantly, while safety issues meant some stores failed to open at all, with staff telling shoppers who had queued for 24 or even 48 hours to go home empty-handed.
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After this, and still running as of December, Swatch began selling the watches at pop-up stores appearing seemingly at random worldwide. Private Facebook groups exchange info on where these are, and how much stock is available; some models of MoonSwatch are more difficult to find than others.
Over 270 days later, and as I write this, the MoonSwatch still isn’t available to buy on the Swatch website. Prices on eBay have tumbled significantly from their four-figure high in the spring, to barely scraping clear of the £218 retail price today. At the time of writing, MoonSwatches listed at £250 have zero bids with mere minutes remaining; others are falling short of the £240 barrier, suggesting that even on Christmas Eve demand for the must-have timepiece has jettisoned its rocket boosters.
(Image credit: Swatch)
(Image credit: Swatch)
But that isn’t to say the MoonSwatch has fallen out of favour with watch lovers.Hodinkeehas named it their Watch of The Year, and you can bet your bottom dollar that online stock would sell out in a heartbeat, should it ever actually arrive.
The MoonSwatch launch must surely go down in history as a key moment in horology, branding and retail. There are thesis to be written about the humble plastic timepiece from each of these angles, and probably many more too.
As the year draws to a close, we wonder what Swatch’s next move might be. A huge ramp-up in production and online sales would of course be welcome, but would demand be sustained once the floodgates are opened and the bottleneck cleared? Was the enormous demand we saw back in March merely a flash in the pan; more the actions of opportunistic scalpers branching out from PS5s and Nike Dunks than real watch fans?
Swatch will undoubtedly be considering a followup to the MoonSwatch. How abouta spin-off of the Omega Seamaster? Swatch has already said a successor is possible, after all. We’ll see you in the queue.
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