Swatch x Audemars Piguet Royal Pop: here’s everything you need to know

When the MoonSwatch dropped in 2022, it broke the internet, and resulted in long queues outside Swatch boutiques. Now, the watch world is buzzing again, and this time the stakes are even higher. A collaboration between Swatch and Audemars Piguet, inspired by the legendary Royal Oak, is imminent.

By now you’ve probably seen the AI renders flooding your Instagram feed or caught a headline or two. You’ve also probably seen the words “Royal Pop” more times than you care to imagine…

If you’ve lost track of what’s real and what’s not, here’s every leak, official detail, and piece of speculation about the Swatch x Audemars Piguet collaboration in one place.

The story so far…

It started with a cryptic message on Swatch‘s website in mid-April, when all the watch press were focused on Watches and Wonders. Visitors to Swatch’s homepage were greeted with a single teasing line: “The real wonders are happening in May.” Beneath it, a blank space, and the now-familiar format: X Swatch.

We’ve seen that logo before. Omega X Swatch gave us the MoonSwatch. Blancpain X Swatch gave us the Scuba Fifty Fathoms. Both sent fans queuing around the block and sent the secondary market into a frenzy. Whatever was coming in May, Swatch clearly thought it was worth the fanfare.

Alongside the initial teaser were leather loops. Eight of them, arranged in a flower-like formation. All stitched, and each in a different colour.

A few weeks later we got full-page newspaper ads, showing abstract fragments of the Sistem51 movement alongside a single date: 16th May.

Then, overnight on 6th May, two new posters dropped. One said “Royal”. The other said “Pop”, using the same font as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.

The internet lost its mind. And honestly? Fair enough

Finally, on 8th May, Swatch dropped an Instagram video showing the Swatch x Audemars Piguet Royal Pop logo, confirming what we’d all been thinking.

Over the weekend, Swatch started installing Royal Pop displays in its stores. The displays show the Swatch x Audemars Piguet logo, and features a tin plastered in bright colours and logos.

On the 12th of May, Swatch finally dropped official images on Instagram:

Release date, availability, and price

Mark 16th May in your calendar. All of Swatch’s teaser imagery shows this date.

It’s the same Saturday-launch strategy it used for the original MoonSwatch, chosen deliberately to reach a wider audience when people aren’t at work.

Swatch has revealed which stores will have stock on launch day. In the UK, there will be 13 stores, including five in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool. You can find a full list here.

In the US, there are 21 stores, including New York, LA, Houston, Las Vegas, and Miami. You can find the full list here.

The Royal Pop will will costs US$400 / £335 for the Lépine-style pocket watches and US$420 / £350 for the two Savonnette-style pieces.

Expect limited initial stock, and, if the MoonSwatch is any guide, queues around the block. If you’re serious about getting one, set your alarm for an unreasonable hour. We’ll be outside the door from 4AM.

Name

It’s confirmed the new collaboration is going to be called the ‘Royal Pop’.

It’s right there in the teaser Swatch posted on Instagram. “Royal” on one, “Pop” on the other, both rendered in a font that is unmistakably the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak typeface. Swatch isn’t being subtle…

That does exactly what it says on the tin, marrying AP’s most iconic model with the playful, colourful spirit of Swatch’s beloved Pop Swatch line. It’s a good name.

It has since come to light that Swatch has officially trademarked the name “Royal Pop” under horology categories.

We’ve seen other nicknames floated around online, such as the Royal Swoak and Royal Broke… but I can’t see these sticking.

Design

Forget everything you thought you knew from the renders. All those colourful Royal Oak wristwatch concepts flooding your feed? Bin them. The Royal Pop isn’t a wristwatch at all – it’s a pocket watch.

The concept pulls from two sources, the Royal Oak and the Pop Swatch, a clip-on watch designed to be pinned to clothing, bags, or a bracelet.

Put them together and you get a 40mm Bioceramic case that can be worn around your neck on a lanyard, clipped to a bag, or propped on your desk using the included stand.

Swatch isn’t offering the Pop on a strap, but we can see third party manufacturers stepping in to full the gap.

Aesthetically, it’s very much inspired by the Royal Oak. You’ve got the octagonal bezel, eight screws, Petite Tapisserie dial, bathtub-shaped hands and markers with Super-LumiNova.

At just 8.4mm thick, it’s not far off the dimensions of an actual Royal Oak Jumbo.

The Royal Pop gets sapphire crystals front and back rather than synthetic glass, and the strap is made from leather, so this is clearly a step up from MoonSwatch and Scuba Fifty Fathoms.

Inside sits a hand-wound Sistem51 (a first for the calibre) with a 90-hour power reserve and an Nivachron hairspring.

The caseback is exhibition, and the movement is decorated in a Roy Lichtenstein-esque pop-art print.

The collection comes in eight colourways (a nod to the octagonal bezel) each named for the number eight in a different language: Otto Rosso, Huit Blanc, Green Eight, Blaue Acht, Orenji Hachi, Lan Ba, Ocho Negro, and Otg Roz.

Six are hour-and-minute only (Lépine-style, crown at 12), and two add a small seconds and a savonnette-style crown at 3.

Will the Royal Pop be a limited edition?

One of the big questions surrounding the Royal Pop is whether it will be a limited edition, and my view is that it almost certainly won’t be, at least not the core collection.

Just like the MoonSwatch and the Scuba Fifty Fathoms, neither of those initial collections were limited, and there’s no good reason to think Swatch will change approach here.

Could we see special or limited edition models further down the line? Absolutely. But the core Royal Pop range? I’d be very surprised if Swatch put a cap on it.

And really, making it limited would go against everything Swatch stands for. The whole point of these collaborations is accessibility, the democratic idea that great design and mechanical watchmaking shouldn’t be the exclusive preserve of people who can drop serious money on a Royal Oak.

So if you’re tempted by the Royal Pop but don’t fancy camping outside a Swatch boutique on launch day, don’t panic, and definitely don’t pay crazy resale prices online. Just like the MoonSwatch before it, the hype will settle, the queues will disappear, and in a few months’ time you’ll be able to walk in and buy one without the drama.

History

This isn’t the first time Swatch and AP have been linked. After the MoonSwatch launched, François-Henry Bennahmias – then CEO of Audemars Piguet – publicly praised the Omega x Swatch partnership as a brilliant idea that brings fresh energy to the Swiss watch industry and educates a younger generation about watchmaking icons.

Then, during the Swatch x Blancpain launch, AP’s official Instagram account waded into the conversation asking, simply: “when do we launch?”

Add the close personal relationship between Bennahmias and Swatch CEO Nick Hayek, and the groundwork for something like this could have been in the works for years.

There’s also a clear commercial logic. AP almost certainly watched the “CasioOak” G-Shock craze with interest. A collaboration like this means they profit further from one of the most iconic watch designs ever made, and opens up an entirely new audience.

Is this really happening?

Yes, on 8th May Swatch confirmed this collaboration is happening and we now have all the official details.

Some are calling it a stroke of genius, predicting queues that make the original MoonSwatch launch look orderly. Others who were convinced AP would never partner with a brand that sells watches for under $100, are now arguing it would cheapen the Royal Oak’s legendary status. It’s a familiar complaint, and was levelled at the MoonSwatch too. I don’t think it was right then, and I don’t think it’s true here, either.

Audemars Piguet has never been a house that plays it safe. The Marvel collaborations and the Travis Scott partnership both showed a manufacturer willing to engage with culture and take risks.

When the Royal Pop launches, the Royal Oak will still be one of the most desirable watches on the planet. Gerald Genta’s masterpiece isn’t going anywhere. If anything, introducing a new generation to that octagonal silhouette, even through an affordable Pop Swatch pocket watch, can only grow the legend further.

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