Million hype about Moonswatch
Swatch denies artificial shortage of supply
Originally, the Moonswatch was only intended to be a replacement watch for Omega customers. This became a huge success for the Swatch Group. Production is to be increased in the near future.
Published: 59 minutes ago
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Queuing in front of a Swatch store in London: the watch manufacturer claims that it will not artificially reduce the range of Moonswatches.
The Moonswatch, which the Swatch Group sells as a joint product of its brands Swatch and Omega, is undoubtedly the “Watch of the Year 2022”. The eleven wristwatch series was launched at the end of March 2022 and already passed the one million mark at the end of November of the same year. This was confirmed by Swatch boss Nick Hayek in a report by the “NZZ”.
The hype hasn’t died down yet. People are still queuing to get a moonswatch. Because the watches cannot be bought online – only in shops and boutiques. As soon as it becomes known that a shop has received another delivery, word gets around and queues quickly form due to the high demand.
Swatch can hardly keep up with production
The latter also brings a lot of criticism to Swatch. The accusation: Swatch is keeping the hype alive by artificially reducing the range. Hayek denies this. Swatch was surprised by the extremely high demand.
Swatch produces the watches in Switzerland. The machines in the production facilities in Bettlach SO and Grenchen SO literally run around the clock. According to Hayek, production should soon be expanded to another location.
But even if more watches are made every day, distribution through selected Swatch stores limits the sales volume. Why was this distribution variant chosen? On the one hand, to put a stop to “pinball”. These are people who buy watches online with the sole aim of reselling them overpriced on other platforms. The store guarantees that a customer can only buy one watch per person. On the other hand, Hayek wants to stimulate stationary trade. There are more physical Swatch stores worldwide again, which improves the visibility of the brand.
Omega also benefits
Hayek assures that the purpose of the Swatch-Omega merger was not simply to bring the mass and luxury brands together. Originally, a “Swatch in the Omega look” was to be produced, which was to be given to Omega customers as a temporary replacement while their watch was being serviced. This became a separate collection.
Omega still benefits. According to Hayek, the actual «moon watch», the Omega Speedmaster Professional, has sold more than 50 percent since the launch of the Moonswatch. (rae)