'People got crazy': Swatch's US$400 Royal Pop watch and drop-culture madness

The company at the centre of it all, Swatch, is no stranger to over-the-top retail outbreaks, and said on May 18 that there is no shortage of its Royal Pop pocket watch - a collaboration with luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet. All for a "bioceramic" timekeeper that retails for around US$400 - but perhaps more to the point, resells for thousands of dollars. By May 18, the candy-coloured flex objects had proliferated on eBay, with one boasting: "In hand!!! Swatch x AP Royal Pop," £3,055 (US$4,100) "or best offer". "It looks like people got crazy to get a Royal Pop to make money through resale, not because they are fans of the Swatch," says Pierre-Yves Donze, a professor of business history at Osaka University's Graduate School of Economics in Japan. "People want money, especially. Royal Pop is not like a cool product, but a way to make easy money."