Royal Pop: The Audemars Piguet x Swatch Collab Escapes the Wrist

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Summary

  • Swatch and Audemars Piguet debut “Royal Pop,” an eight-model Bioceramic pocket watch collection
  • It features hand-wound SISTEM51 movements, “Tapisserie” dials, and multi-wear calfskin lanyards
  • Launching May 16, 2026; 100% of AP’s proceeds support watchmaking preservation

Last week, Swatch hinted at a new collaboration, sparking a lot of excitement among watch fans. Many guessed they would recreate the famous Royal Oak watch, but the actual announcement was a bigger surprise. Swatch and Audemars Piguet have teamed up to launch “Royal Pop,” a bold new line of eight Bioceramic watches. The collection takes inspiration from 1980s Swatch POP watches and uses Pop Art to offer a fresh, playful take on luxury watchmaking – a concept the brands call “positive provocation.”

The Royal Pop watch offers a completely new way to tell time, moving away from traditional wrist straps. It comes with a stylish calfskin lanyard with contrasting stitching, letting you wear it as a necklace, attach it to your bag, or keep it in your pocket. If you’d rather display it, a detachable stand turns it into a fun desk clock.

This collection features eight different color options, a tribute to the iconic 1972 Royal Oak’s eight-sided bezel and signature screws. The collection is divided into two types: six models designed with a crown at the 12 o’clock position and simple hour and minute hands, and two models with a crown at 3 o’clock and a smaller dial for seconds.

HUIT BLANC watches are known for their clean white ceramic cases and bezels featuring eight colorful screws. Bold combinations like the pink and red OTTO ROSSO or the navy and orange ORENJI HACHI use contrasting stitching on their leather straps for a fun look. The Savonnette LAN BA and OTG ROZ models are the most visually interesting, with the OTG ROZ pairing teal, pink, and yellow, and showcasing uniquely colored internal mechanisms through a clear back panel.

The colorful Bioceramic cases hide a remarkably advanced mechanism: a new, manually-wound version of Swatch’s fully automated SISTEM51 movement. This innovative movement, safeguarded by 15 patents, can run for 90 hours on a single wind. It also includes a special, anti-magnetic balance spring—originally created in partnership with Audemars Piguet—that helps keep time accurate. You can partially see the movement through a clear sapphire caseback, which showcases a unique, patented barrel drum that visually indicates how much power is left.

The new Audemars Piguet and Swatch Royal Pop collection will be sold only at certain Swatch stores starting May 16, 2026. To handle high demand, each customer can only buy one watch per day. All of Audemars Piguet’s profits from this collaboration will be used to support the preservation of traditional watchmaking skills and help develop the next generation of watchmakers.

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2026-05-12 21:56