The global hysteria that accompanied the launch of the MoonSwatch was like nothing the watch world had seen before. Store managers faced crowds of thousands of people. The Carnaby Street store in London lasted half an hour before the store was sold out. The police were called.In New York, clashes broke out amid rumors of a stab In line. A Swatch store in Singapore was forced to close for 10 days in an attempt to let the madness continue.
There would have been a very simple way to stop such chaos: sell the MoonSwatch online. But no, the Swatch Group’s decision was that the pieces, while not limited, would be sold only through a select number of Swatch outlets, apparently unaware of the fuss this would create. Before long, MoonSwatches were selling online. Hit eBay and other platforms, and getting offers of thousands of dollars.
More importantly, however, in July 2022, when WIRED broke the exact story of how Swatch secretly created the MoonSwatch with Omega, Nick Hayek Jr., CEO of Swatch Group, which owns the Swatch and Omega brands, revealed to our writer Tim Barber that while they wouldn’t be selling the MoonSwatch online at first, this wouldn’t necessarily continue to be the case.
At the time, when asked about future e-commerce for the watch, Hayek said: “Ask me in four months if e-commerce can play a role… maybe… I don’t know.” Well, it’s been a little over four months – more than two years, to be precise – but there are now four versions of the chronograph. appear online along with a much-requested “add to cart” button.
Four of the original references have been chosen as initial online offerings: the classic Mission to the Moon; Mission to Mars, a nod to the Speedmaster Alaska Project Observatory; Mission to Earth; and the bright yellow Mission to the Sun. Unfortunately, there are no Snoopy MoonSwatch watches online yet.
The fact that there are only four MoonSwatch watches available online isn’t the only drawback, though. At the moment, they can only be purchased online from Swatch in two countries: the United States and China. The good news is that the price is still $270 online (down from the $350+ these pieces still typically sell for on sites like eBay). To deter resellers and bots, buyers can only purchase one watch at a time, and a Swatch registration is required.
PHOTOGRAPHY: SWATCH
MoonSwatch has been a phenomenal success for the Swatch Group. However, it is interesting that the line’s shift in e-commerce strategy comes after the recent announcement that Swatch Group’s shares have fallen following Profits fall by 70 percentattributed to the weakening Chinese market. It has also been suggested that the US and China were selected for the initial online launch due to the large size of the jurisdictions, which made it difficult for customers to reach the brand’s physical outlets.
Whatever the reason for the shift online, this is good news for fans of the collaboration who can’t (or don’t want to) get to a Swatch store and join the queue – it’s just a shame that the newest offerings aren’t ready for your online shopping cart yet.
PHOTOGRAPHY: SWATCH
