Swatch and Audemars Piguet tap Labubu-style scarcity for watch launch buzz
A Milan scuffle, capped queues and $400-to-$420 pocket watches showed how Labubu's drop economy is moving into Swiss watchmaking.
Swatch and Audemars Piguet turned Royal Pop into a scarcity event, and the launch showed exactly why Labubu culture has become a retail blueprint. In Milan, shoppers pushed to get access to the limited watches, queues were capped and some stores had to close, a sign that the product release was being managed less like a standard sale and more like a drop.
The Royal Pop collection consists of eight Bioceramic pocket-watch models inspired by the Royal Oak and Swatch POP lines. Swatch said the watches became available on May 16, with retail prices running about $400 to $420. Within hours, the secondary market moved far above that, with some listings around $3,000 and early resale sales spiking even higher.
That is the formula brands are chasing: scarcity, queue culture, surprise and social-media urgency. In this model, the line outside the store is part of the product. The scramble creates a halo effect, drives free coverage and makes the watch feel like an event rather than a purchase. Royal Bank of Canada estimated Royal Pop could lift Swatch revenue by about 3% this year, while UBS argued the buzz would not solve Swatch’s larger structural problems.
Labubu is the clearest reference point for that playbook. Created in 2015 by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung as part of The Monsters series, the character was scaled by Pop Mart through blind-box releases starting in 2019. Rihanna, Dua Lipa, David Beckham, Blackpink’s Lisa and Simone Biles helped push the figure deeper into mainstream conversation, but the real engine has been the same one Swatch is now borrowing: tightly controlled supply that turns every restock into a social moment.
Pop Mart’s own numbers show how powerful that can be. For 2025, revenue rose 184.7% year on year to 37.120 billion yuan, or $5.38 billion, and Labubu-related revenue passed 10 billion yuan for the first time. Reuters also reported that Pop Mart shares fell more than 20% after its March 25, 2026 earnings release, a reminder that even explosive demand can raise questions about sustainability.
The UK market has already seen how intense the drop culture can get. Pop Mart suspended physical Labubu sales there on May 21, 2025 after long queues, fights and staff-safety concerns, while keeping online drops active and working on a new distribution model. Swatch and Audemars Piguet have now taken the same logic into Swiss watchmaking, and the Milan scene made the point plain: the scarcity itself is the spectacle.
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