Swatch had to close its London stores yesterday (26 March) with its Carnaby Street location being open for just 30 minutes as hoards of watch fans mobbed the store in a bid to get their hands on its latest collaboration with Omega.
Winding queues were visible as shoppers flocked to Swatch’s central London stores on Tuesday (26 March) as it released its ‘MoonSwatch: Mission To The MoonPhase’ pieces.
Thousands of shoppers queued up to purchase with stores only allowed to sell one per person, the Telegraph reported, while police officers were seen speaking to store staff as crowds tried to get inside the shop.
The watches are part of a series of Omega-Swatch launches after duo first launched the MoonSwatch collection in 2022.
Each of the 11 watches under the MoonSwatch range was named after one of the planets, as well as the Sun and the Moon.
The queue in Carnaby St. for the new Omega x Swatch Bioceramic Moonswatch. That’s hype for a quartz speedmaster watch. Impressive. Not getting one. #OmegaXSwatch #Speedmaster #London pic.twitter.com/CMhzrAaO3x
— Iain R 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 (@Iain7Iain) March 26, 2022
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The MoonSwatch collection pays homage to Omega’s famous Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional timepieces, famously worn by astronauts like Buzz Aldrin.
At stores such as Goldsmiths, watches from the Omega Speedmaster range sell for anywhere up to £86,000 while the MoonSwatch pieces have a much more affordable price point of £270 – although the pieces have been sold for as much as £3,000 on eBay.
The velcro-strapped watch features Snoopy, NASA’s safety ambassador since the 1960s, on the moon phase disk.
Cartoon pieces are often highly prized by collectors, with companies such as Rolex and Omega having released Mickey Mouse and Snoopy limited-edition character watches.
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