It was over before it even started.
The ‘Snoopy’ Moonswatch vanished from shelves today, four hours before stores officially opened.
Just 20 pieces were allocated at Mall of the Emirates, one of Dubai’s largest luxury malls and the city’s only retailer of the Mission to MoonPhase Snoopy Moonswatch that launched today.
The MOE branch is meant to open at 10 am, but all 20 pieces were gone by 6:20 am, employees and customers told WatchPro.
The store was surrounded by security in hi-vis jackets and was opened early due to “security concerns,” an employee said. At its busiest, 200 people were huddled outside the small storefront, security personnel told WatchPro.
Security concerns may be warranted. The below video shows WatchPro trapped inside the Swatch’s MOE store in 2022 when the first Omega x Swatch pieces launched. Police had to escort WatchPro’s Josh Corder out of the store.
Restocking dates unclear
“We don’t know when they [the Mission to Moonphase pieces] will restock, it will happen once a month,” a Swatch employee at the desk told WatchPro. To make matters worse, on the fabled day of that restock, Swatch will again open early, the same employee told us, making obtaining the Snoopy Bioceramic nearly impossible if that is the case.
Those lucky 20 could well be people with close ties to Dubai’s inner circle who never stepped foot inside the store.
As a consolation, the Dubai Swatch store had every other Omega and Blancpain Swatch in stock (excluding Moonshine), which just a few months ago had people queuing up in the cold outdoors across the world.
By 7:45 am, the store had closed and everybody had left.
“People were fighting,” customer Shaun told WatchPro, who had been there since 6 am. “People were getting really mad.” He shared the video below with WatchPro, showing a customer shouting at security.
There will surely be similar dogfights across the globe today.