Shoppers trying to buy new pocket watch overrun Michigan mall
TROY, Mich. ― The chance to buy a new pocket watch drew several hundred people early Saturday to Somerset Mall in Troy.
But they were left disappointed after the crowd became so large and disruptive that police told them to disperse and the sale was canceled.
People gathered at the mall early Saturday to buy the Swatch x Audemars Piguet (also known as AP) pocket watch, a collaboration between high-end Audemars Piguet and the comparatively affordable Swatch. Audemars Piguet watches sell for thousands. The Swatch collaboration ranges in price from $400 to $420 depending on the model.
Troy Police Sgt. John Julian said police were called to the mall at 4:30 a.m. Saturday and requested aid from several other departments.Shoppers were told to disperse, and two people who refused to leave were cited for trespassing, Julian said. No arrests were made, he said.
The Swatch store also canceled the sale of the pocket watch, Julian said.
By 10 a.m. Saturday, when the mall was scheduled to open, several hundred people had gathered again and police told them to leave. The crowd began to thin, but a few hundred people remained. At 10:15 a.m. a security guard yelled that anyone who did not leave was going to be charged with trespassing. Several people booed, but most started to go.Jaylen Camp of Southfield was one of the last people to leave after the trespassing warning.
Camp said he had been at the mall since 5 a.m. and was one of the first in line outside the mall after the initial crowd dispersed.
Camp said he likes the watch, but he would have considered reselling it if the value was enough. He said he did not know that the launch was canceled, otherwise he would have left.
Camp said he stayed outside the store despite repeated requests to leave because he wanted to hear from a Swatch employee.
“It’s insane. It’s very negligent of the city of Troy, the mall of Somerset and the store of Swatch," he said. "Our time matters.”
