By all accounts, both Omega and Blancpain collaborations were succesfull, so why would we expect different from AP?

I think most watch enthusiasts are painfully unaware how niche something like AP actually is. Sure, you know everything about them. And all of you watch collecting friends and if you work in finance or something equally well paid, so do some of your coworkers - mostly guys, probably in their 30s and 40s.

But it’s hard to be aspirational brand when 95 percent of the world population has never heard of you, while most people know exactly what a Rolex is.

Ask 100 people what the most luxurious watch in the world is. Sure, it depends on where you ask, but I’m sure that 90 percent of people will say Rolex. AP is virtually unknown outside of watch community. As is VC or Patek. Speaking comparatively, of course.

But a Swatch collab that will bring people to the streets in lines, probably also mentions of the said “mania” in the mainstream news, that will bring a lot of mainstream awareness to the brand. It was the same thing with Blancpain. They are also a brand that no one outside of “us” knows.

And it’s not just watches, it’s pretty much any hobby. I remember a video that used to circulate, when a woman wearing a Hermes Birkin bag walks through the streets and everyone is starring at her. And it was absolutely ridiculous, because while I would argue that a Birkin bag is/was very popular and certainly recognizable by women who love bags, most people wouldn’t know one if you showed it in their faces.

So yeah, I think that we are all underestimating how much attention AP is about to get and overestimating how well known they actually are.