It’s 12am and Ed Sheeran is nowhere to be seen. London’s Oxford Street is in night mode; merry revellers peel themselves off the floor, vape fumes decorate the air as the thundering bass of club music fills it.
Adjacent to the paraphernalia of a normal Friday night in the capital, a sea of Supreme camping chairs and security guards populate a characterless side street. It’s the return of the Swatch queue – already numbering in the hundreds – for the Blancpain x Swatch collaboration.
It's still nine hours before the Swatch store opens to greet avid fans and collectors hoping to score one of five new ocean-themed watches. “We’ve been here since 6pm,” one queuer tells me. “But that’s nothing – apparently there's some guy who’s been here since Thursday.”
To a bystander, the endless pool of Deliveroo drivers feeding the masses every 15 minutes might seem chaotic, with litter piling up on the pathways and the chatter continuous throughout the night. But if Swatch stores learned anything about the mania of the MoonSwatch – its partnership with Omega – it's that organisation is paramount. Particularly after last year, when riot police were called, and Swatch were forced to close some London stores only an hour after opening, due to fights.
This time around, it feels different. Dare I say calm? A member of staff assures me there’s little to no tolerance for disruption this time, and it feels more “respectful” between store and consumer. For instance, everyone has been offered a slip marked with a number, followed by a photograph captured of them to confirm their identity allowing them to leave the queue for an hour. Any longer than an hour, and you’re off to the back to start again. Security guards sweep around with bin bags, speakers blaring music are ushered to quiet, earnest fans eventually turn to sleep, and if you are caught with anything looking faintly like alcohol, your dreams of scoring a watch that day are gone quicker than taking a sip.
“Get that on for £750 now!” a busied man tells a young boy clutching a Swatch carrier bag in his hands a few minutes after 9am, already thinking above a resale victory. There’s a general feeling of grumpiness at this point, even though the doors are now officially open. “You’re so close now,” I tell a young group of 18-year-old boys, clad in tracksuits and man bags. “We’ve been here since 10pm, it’s been a tough stretch but we’re preserving. No sleep for the wicked,” one laughs.
Could this be the new vanguard of watch enthusiasts the Swatch group is banking on to give hope to the future of watchmaking? “I’m here to make money, money, money,” the 18-year-old adds. “The prices are already rising. I’ve seen a couple of 1k sellers online already, so I need to get it up ASAP.” At the time of writing, they’ve now reached £2,000 online. Inflation and a half, but still a fraction of Blancpain’s £14,000 models. The majority lining at the front of the queue have dollar signs in their eyes, shifting stacks of cash from hand to hand.
I watch those walking out of the store with a white Swatch-branded bag in their hands. They trickle onto the opposite side of the street, looking equally pleased and defeated, to compare models with their comrades, ready to put on their wrists as a kind of war trophy, or upload to eBay. Those just stepping out to do their morning shopping are confused by this slew of street campers laden with bags.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the queue, those who joined around 5am that morning stand with coffee cups in each hand. This is where I find those with an actual awareness of Blancpain and its diving heritage. “It’s not the Swatch part that interests me really,” shares 38-year-old Greg from the UK. “It’s Blancpain. I’m interested in watches – I’ve got a few Rolexes in my collection – but I don’t have a Blancpain because the price point is so high.” It’s a sentiment echoed throughout the growing line, particularly following the aftermath of last year’s MoonSwatch, which enabled an entirely new audience to get the word Omega on their wrist, for a fraction of the price.
Will the Blancpain collab be as successful? “I don’t think so,” shares an anonymous queuer who works in the jewelry industry, "because Blancpain is more of a niche brand. But it was excellent marketing, with such an [understated] teaser." The ad in question was an image of water, with no branding other than a swatch logo, paired with a blank space, in newspapers across the globe.
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
For 24-year-old James from Bedfordshire, it’s important to get the watch on the day it comes out, too. “If I miss out on it today, who knows what could happen? They might depreciate in value, they might depreciate in sentiment. I really want the blue [Atlantic] one, but it seems everyone in the queue wants that one as well." One person who must have queued up incognito somewhere in the world for the blue Atlantic Scuba 50 is Ed Sheeran, who will no doubt be the first of many celebs spotted jumping on the Blancpain x Swatch train.
Security guards continue to monitor the queue at regular intervals with vigilant eyes. I head towards the back, with disconcerting looks from those checking I’m not about to queue jump and cost them their watch. Two boys have just joined the queue, but are still feeling optimistic. “I liked the MoonSwatches, but the reason I want this one is because it’s automatic,” offers Alex from Basingstoke. “I’ve actually got a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms,” replies his friend. “But I flew to London this weekend, and it’s the weekend that they’ve launched, so why not?”
A sleepy collector, just one hour into the adventure, admits that he wouldn’t be standing here if the movement wasn’t mechanical. “I started off my watch journey when I was 14 years old with a Swatch, and went up through the brands,” says Simon, 55, from Hertfordshire. “Will it spark greater awareness [of Blancpain]? I’m not so sure. Ultimately, I think it’s a very clever idea – it’s a money-maker. Using recycling fishing nets for the straps and a bioceramic case certainly ticks the sustainability boxes.”
I circle back to the front of the queue and catch a young lady (one of very few in the queue) mid-yawn trying to pick up the watch for her boss, as part of her “assistant duties,” and two 16-year-old boys, inspired by their father’s watch collection, deciding to give up on the queue and try again next time. At this point, someone starts heckling me so I decide, much like the boys, it is time to leave and try again next time for Swatch’s latest oceanic collaboration. Plenty more fish in the sea and all that.
