Swatch has been on a roll since its collaboration with Omega on the MoonSwatch, a BioCeramic take on the iconic Speedmaster. The brand has been chasing that high ever since, releasing countless MoonSwatch variations and collaborating with other members of the Swatch Group. However, it looks like Swatch may have finally found a way to top the hype of the MoonSwatch, and it took looking to a luxury watch outside the Swatch Group to do it.
The mystery deepened with newspaper ads featuring dotted backgrounds in a singular bright color, showing off a Sistem 51 movement, but with only a single part exposed in each ad. Late last night, everything changed. Swatch debuted its biggest clue yet, seemingly out of left field. This video shows the same pop-art dotted background from the newspaper campaign, displaying the word "Royal," accompanied by the "clak" noise. The background color then shifts from green to blue, and "Royal" is replaced by the word "Pop" and a second clack sound. We also get a release date of May 16.
The collaboration with Audemars Piguet (AP) is a game-changer. Unlike Omega and Blancpain, AP is an independent brand, which immediately makes this different from Swatch's previous luxury watch collabs. Swatch knows that its brand portfolio, while full of great watches, doesn't have any icons at the level of the Speedmaster or even the Fifty Fathoms. A Swatchified Breguet or Longines, which have both been theorized, just wouldn't generate much hype, frankly. But a Swatch collab with AP, one of the Holy Trinity? Now that is destined to get people talking.
The Royal Pop has the potential to be even bigger than the MoonSwatch. Think about the type of people who lined up around the block across the world for a MoonSwatch. There were some dyed-in-the-wool watch enthusiasts and a few looky-loos, sure, but I'd wager the bulk were hype-driven fans of streetwear. The comparisons to sneaker drops from Nike and Adidas at the time were pretty on-point. Among this crowd, which brand do you think has better name recognition and street cred? Omega, which counts James Bond, Buzz Aldrin, and George Clooney as its most prized ambassadors? Or AP, a brand that has formed deep connections in the worlds of hip hop and streetwear over two decades via collabs with Travis Scott, Jay-Z, Kaws, 1017 ALYX 9SM, and more. Not to mention the fact that rappers have been spitting lyrics about AP and the Royal Oak since at least the start of this century.
The watch's looks will play a big part in its popularity. It seems pretty obvious that this isn't just going to be an AP version of the MoonSwatch. The lanyards hint at this being a different kind of beast altogether. Then there's the whole "Pop" half of the equation, which I believe refers to more than just pop art. I think it refers to a Pop Swatch, which was a line of modular watches originally launched by Swatch in the 1990s and relaunched in 2022. Pop Swatches feature a plastic watch head that can be "popped" out of its strap to be clipped into another strap or into a container to be worn as a pocket watch or necklace, or clipped to anything, really. The popping out and in, to me, represents the "clak" sound from Swatch's marketing campaign.
I think the big unknown here is whether or not there's going to be a wristworn element. You'd think Swatch would make straps available, since most people prefer to wear a watch on their wrist, but maybe AP believes that would be hitting a little too close to home for a watch that's going to be priced at a tiny fraction of the Royal Oak's five-figure SRP. I wouldn't be surprised if Swatch forgoes a strap or bracelet and simply launches the Royal Pop on the lanyard only, making it more of an art object than a typical watch. This would also play into the pop art element that also seems to be at play here. I also wouldn't be surprised if I see a bunch of Royal Pops clipped to people's bags at next year's Watches and Wonders as the latest horological status symbol.
We'll know for certain what the AP x Swatch Royal Pop looks like when it launches on May 16. And you can bet I'll be covering it right here.
