At 5 am on a Bengaluru weekend, most people are choosing between sleep and filter coffee. Outside Phoenix Marketcity, however, hundreds chose something else entirely — a ₹41,000 watch drop that turned into a full-blown retail sprint derby.

The launch of the AP x Swatch collaboration on Saturday transformed the upscale mall into a scene straight out of a Black Friday documentary with a Bollywood budget. Videos now flooding social media show massive crowds packed outside the gates before sunrise, waiting for the shutters to rise. The moment they did, people charged in, running past barricades while security guards and bouncers scrambled to regain control.

Some clips even showed guards physically restraining eager buyers as the rush intensified. Mumbai witnessed similar scenes. Enthusiasts and resellers reportedly queued overnight for the release.

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While it was not entirely clear what resulted in this hype, an X user explained that the rush for “buying” the affordable luxury watches was because of their resell value.

The collaboration itself is between Swiss watch giant Swatch and luxury horology heavyweight Audemars Piguet, better known among collectors as AP. The idea mirrors Swatch’s earlier blockbuster partnerships with Omega and Blancpain of taking a brand usually reserved for billionaires, remixing it into a more accessible format and letting scarcity do the marketing.

As things went south during the launch in Indian cities, Swatch issued a statement:

Globally, these launches have triggered similar scenes. In the UK, Swatch temporarily shut stores across London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield after massive crowds gathered outside branches for the same limited-edition release. According to BBC, the company cited “safety considerations for customers and staff”, while police in Cardiff reportedly arrested one person amid the chaos.

The BBC report stated that the watches, originally priced from £335 (~Rs 43,000), soon appeared online for resale at prices touching £16,000 (over Rs 20 lakh).

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Netizens chime in

This latest collection launched worldwide includes Bioceramic models and pocket-watch-inspired designs. One user mocked the frenzy by pointing out that people were stampeding over what was essentially “a pocket watch, not even a wristwatch”.

Another comment read, “People are storming malls at 5 AM just to spend ₹41,000 on a plastic watch carrying a luxury label.”