The new Audemars Piguet × Swatch Royal Pop collection has finally arrived after weeks of previews. While this is not a limited edition, the collaboration is still highly anticipated, as it combines haute horlogerie heritage with playful experimentation in a way few would have expected.
The Royal Pop takes inspiration from two icons: the legendary Royal Oak introduced by Audemars Piguet in 1972 and the colourful Swatch POP watches of the 1980s. Instead of creating a conventional wristwatch, the two brands have transformed the concept into a modern pocket watch format designed to be worn almost anywhere. Each model arrives with a calfskin lanyard and removable clip system, allowing it to hang around the neck, attach to a handbag, or wrap around the wrist and still tell the time.
The collection retains many of the Royal Oak’s defining signatures. The octagonal bezel with its eight screws remains central, alongside the familiar Petite Tapisserie dial texture and vertical satin finishing. Crafted from Bioceramic, the cases introduce vibrant Pop Art-inspired colour combinations that are intentionally playful. The white “HUIT BLANC” model is perhaps the boldest, featuring eight different coloured bezel screws as a tribute to the Royal Oak’s distinctive geometry.
As a tribute to the eight sides of the case and the eight screws on the Royal Oak’s signature bezel, the Royal Pop collection is available in eight models in total, and is divided into two styles. The Lépine-style pocket watch is available in six colourways and features the winding crown positioned at 12 o’clock, with time reading simplified to hours and minutes hands. The Savonnette-style pocket watch has the winding crown at 3 o’clock and a dial with a small seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock, and is launched in two colourways.
Beneath the cheerful exterior sits Swatch’s highly innovative SISTEM51 movement, now reworked into a new hand-wound format with 15 active patents. Entirely machine-assembled in Switzerland, the movement delivers over 90 hours of power reserve and incorporates a Nivachron balance spring developed in collaboration with Audemars Piguet. A transparent caseback allows the wearer to appreciate the mechanism alongside a visual power reserve indicator integrated directly into the barrel design.
The Royal Pop collection is currently not available online and can only be purchased at selected Swatch stores globally.
