India, May 18 -- It doesn't matter if you're not into watches. It doesn't matter if you've never even worn a wristwatch. You can't have missed the Audemars Piguet x Swatch drama unfolding on your socials over the weekend. Because, like the Indian influencers at Cannes, the algorithm made sure you saw it.

The TL;DR: Big-ticket collab between luxe AP and more affordable Swatch. New Royal Pop (the colourful $400 rendition of AP's $25,000-on-the-waitlist Royal Oak design) drops at Swatch stores. Reels of people camping out at NYC Swatch stores even four days ahead, long queues at stores in cities that have civic sense, crowds everywhere else. And then what? Videos of people pushing barricades to enter (to buy a watch), angry hordes chanting ...