{"id":674219,"date":"2026-05-16T21:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T21:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674219\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T21:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T21:35:09","slug":"swatch-stores-at-toronto-malls-closed-amid-launch-of-new-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674219\/","title":{"rendered":"Swatch stores at Toronto malls closed amid launch of new watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Swatch Canada says massive lines and crowds forced the company to temporarily shut down various locations in the GTA amid sales for limited edition products. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Swatch stores at two Toronto malls were closed Saturday amid long lines for the release of a new limited edition pocket watch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In an Instagram post, Swatch Canada said the closure was due to \u201cpublic safety considerations.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DameMoves\/status\/2055449397039681694\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DameMoves\/status\/2055449397039681694\">Posts on social media<\/a> show people began lining up the day before, camping overnight, hoping to get a watch from the collaboration between Swatch and Audemars Piguet, which launched on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A spokesperson for Fairview Mall confirmed to CP24 that the Swatch store in the mall was closed for the remainder of the day. The spokesperson said there is no confirmed reopening time for the store.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The new pocket watch collection is called \u201cRoyal Pop.\u201d There are eight models on sale, retailing between $525 and $560 in Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to a press release, the collection \u201ccombines joyful boldness and positive provocation with fine watchmaking\u201d and draws inspiration from the artistic movement Pop Art.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CG6VYBML6RE5ZM2CAVLU2FVX2Y.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Swatch x AP pocket watches This photo from Swatch shows the eight pocket watches that are part of its Royal Pop collaboration with Audemars Piguet. (Swatch\/Supplied) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Toronto police confirmed to CP24 that they were called to Sheway Gardens at 8:50 a.m. \u201cto assist with crowd control\u201d inside.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThere were no incidents inside the mall that we are aware of,\u201d Toronto police media relations officer Const. Laura Brabant said in an email.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Swatch addressed the demand for its new watch in another Instagram post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cTo ensure the safety of both our customers and our staff in Swatch stores, we kindly ask you not to rush to our stores in large numbers to acquire this product,\u201d the post reads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">They added that the watch will be available for several months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIn some countries, queues of more than 50 people cannot be accepted, and sales may need to be paused.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Several media outlets in the United Kingdom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c1d2qldr0yko\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c1d2qldr0yko\">reported<\/a> that many Swatch stores were closed due to long lines. Arrests were also reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swatch Canada says massive lines and crowds forced the company to temporarily shut down various locations in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":["post-674219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}