Swatch Unveils Royal Pop Ap Swatch Collab, First Drop Set May 16
Swatch is moving ahead with its swatch collab with Audemars Piguet under the name Royal Pop, and the first release is set for Saturday, May 16. The debut drop will be in-person only at select Swatch locations, with no official image of the watch shown yet.
Store displays with pop-art-inspired branding are already up around the world, and a glass case in front of them holds a box labeled Royal Pop. The box also shows colorful depictions of Swatch’s automatic Sistem51 movement.
Royal Pop and Swatch stores
The teaser material has also pointed in two directions at once. Swatch showed colorful lanyards or looped straps in its initial trailer, hinting at a pocket watch shape, while other clues suggest the new watch will share a shape with the Royal Oak.
That mix of signals fits Swatch’s pattern from 2022, when it teamed up with Omega on the MoonSwatch, a $260 version of the Speedmaster. Swatch later followed that with a budget-friendly take on Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms.
François-Henry Bennahmias and MoonSwatch
François-Henry Bennahmias, Audemars Piguet’s former chief executive, has already spoken positively about Swatch’s approach. In 2022, he said, “Their collaboration is a great idea, which does not affect the integrity of Omega at all, contrary to what you may have heard,” and added, “Why is that? Because it educates the younger generation about the icons of watchmaking.”
He told Ben Clymer at Hodinkee in 2023 that he was at one point a massive fan of the partnership, before stepping down as ’s CEO at the end of 2023.
Royal Pop on May 16
sits outside the Swatch Group conglomerate, which makes the new tie-up a different kind of pairing from Swatch’s work with Omega and Blancpain. For shoppers, the immediate change is simple: the first Royal Pop drop is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, and it will be sold only in person at select Swatch locations.
That makes the launch a limited store event rather than a broad online release, and the current teaser campaign suggests Swatch wants buyers to show up early rather than wait for a full reveal.
