He was supposed to buy a watch…then he was kidnapped.Image: keystone
May 21, 2026, 10:40 p.mMay 21, 2026, 10:40 p.m
A lover of the Swatch watch “Royal Pop” has been sentenced to two years in prison without parole in Colmar. According to the public prosecutor’s office, he held a young man who was supposed to have bought him the watch in a basement.
The victim, a man in his 20s, was instructed by the defendant to queue in front of a shop in Strasbourg on May 16 to buy a “Royal Pop”. The collection was the result of a collaboration between watch manufacturers Swatch and Audemars Piguet and caused a lot of hype in numerous countries.
However, given the long queue, the contractor had given up. He returned empty-handed to his client, to whom he returned the 400 euros that he had entrusted to him.
Since the 33-year-old defendant felt cheated and accused his agent of having resold the watch without his knowledge, he then held him in the basement of his kebab restaurant in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines for about 20 minutes in order to intimidate him and force him to give him more money.
The watch lover, who appeared in a summary trial before the criminal court in Colmar on Wednesday, tried to justify himself by saying that he did not believe the young man’s version. After the verdict was announced, he was imprisoned. (sda/afp)