The global hysteria that accompanied the launch of the MoonSwatch was unlike anything the watch world had seen. Store managers faced throngs of thousands. London’s Carnaby Street location lasted half an hour before police were called. In New York, scuffles broke out amid rumors of a stabbing in the line. A Swatch shop in Singapore was forced to shut for 10 days in a bid to let the madness play out.
There would have been a very simple way to stop such mayhem: Sell the MoonSwatch online. But, no, the decision by the Swatch Group was that the pieces, although not limited, would be sold through a select number of Swatch outlets only—seemingly unaware of the hullabaloo this would generate. In short order, MoonSwatches were hitting eBay and other platforms and getting bids into the thousands.
Crucially, however, in July 2022, when WIRED revealed the story on exactly how Swatch created the MoonSwatch with Omega in secret, Nick Hayek Jr., chief executive of Swatch Group, which owns both the Swatch and Omega brands, revealed to our writer Tim Barber that while they would not be selling the MoonSwatch online at first, this wasn’t necessarily going to remain the case.
At the time, when pressed on future ecommerce for the watch, Hayek said: “Ask me in four months if ecommerce can play a role … perhaps … I don’t know.” Well, it’s taken a little more than four months—more than two years, to be precise—but now four versions of the chronograph appear online alongside a much-demanded “add to cart” button.
Four of the original references have been chosen as the initial online offerings: the classic Mission to the Moon; Mission to Mars, a nod to the Speedmaster Alaska Project watch; Mission on Earth; and the bright yellow Mission to the Sun. So, sadly, no online Snoopy MoonSwatches yet.
Just four online MoonSwatches being available is not the only catch, however. You can only buy these online from Swatch in two countries right now: the US and China. The good news is the price remains $270 online (less than the $350+ these pieces are still routinely selling for on sites such as eBay). To deter scalpers and bots, shoppers can only buy one watch at a time, and you need to have signed up to Swatch.
MoonSwatch has been a phenomenal success for Swatch Group. Interestingly, however, the reversal of the ecommerce strategy for the line comes after the recent announcement that Swatch Group shares have dropped after profit falls of 70 percent, attributed to softening of the China market. It has also been suggested that the US and China have been selected for the initial online rollout due the jurisdictions’ sheer size, which made it harder for customers to reach physical outlets for the brand.
Whatever the reason for the online pivot, this is good news for fans of the collaboration unable (or unwilling) to get to a Swatch store and join the line—it’s just a shame that the newer offerings aren’t yet ready for your online shopping basket.