Audemars Piguet and Swatch turn the Royal Oak into a pocket watch with the Royal Pop
The best-kept secret in the watchmaking world is finally out. Audemars Piguet and Swatch have unveiled the Royal Pop collection, a whimsical collaboration that has and will continue to create a pulsating buzz around the industry. Honestly, who saw this coming?
Jokes aside, it’s refreshing, after the week-long bombardment of AI-generated images, speculation, and overall frenzy that took place after Swatch first teased the announcement, to finally have clarity. Yes, Audemars Piguet and Swatch are collaborating. No, it is not a wristwatch.
This, of course, isn’t the first time Swatch has partnered with a luxury watchmaker. Who can forget the Blancpain × Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms collection from 2023? Or the maddening fanfare that accompanied the Omega × Swatch MoonSwatch release back in 2022?
There is, however, some nuance to consider. Audemars Piguet is far from an ordinary watchmaker; the haute horlogerie manufacture is known for its exclusivity, independence, and watchmaking prowess. So it was only natural for cynics (and sceptical collectors) to come out in full force when rumours of a potential wristwatch collaboration between the two brands first surfaced.
If you belonged to either group, you can probably rest your head a little easier now. As mentioned earlier, the collaboration isn’t a wristwatch at all. Instead, the Audemars Piguet and Swatch Royal Pop collection is a whimsical series of eight pocket watches that draws on the two brands’ icons: the Royal Oak and the Swatch Pop watches from the 1980s.
The result is a charming expression of the Royal Oak’s recognisable octagonal silhouette, dressed in a quirky and anachronistic package. Speaking of familiar design elements, all the hallmarks of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak are here: the signature octagonal bezel, exposed hexagonal screws, vertical satin finishing, and of course, the iconic tapisserie dial pattern that has become synonymous with the Gérald Genta-designed classic.
Rendered in lightweight Bioceramic, the eight-piece collection leans fully into the playful spirit of Pop Art with vibrant, almost toy-like colour combinations. Across the collection are punchy colourways featuring cherry red, lime green, light blue, bright yellow, navy, black, white, teal, and pink.
Each watch is accompanied by a calfskin lanyard, allowing collectors endless ways to wear or style it. Whether you choose to cradle it around the neck, attach it to a bag, slip it into a pocket (blasphemous, I know), or even display it on a desk using the removable stand, the Royal Pop feels like a playful rejection of the increasingly homogenised smart wearable culture that dominates modern life.
Underneath the playful exterior, however, lies some intriguing watchmaking. Rather than opting for a quartz movement, the Royal Pop collection is powered by a new manual-winding version of Swatch’s SISTEM51 mechanical calibre — the same industrially fascinating movement first introduced in 2013 as the world’s first fully automated Swiss-made mechanical movement.
The movement itself features a 90-hour power reserve, an anti-magnetic Nivachron balance spring, and a transparent caseback that offers a glimpse into the movement’s colourful Pop Art-inspired, digitally printed finishing. The power reserve indicator is integrated into the barrel drum, revealing whether the watch is fully wound depending on the colour displayed through the mechanism.
Collectors will also have two configurations to choose from. Six of the watches adopt a traditional Lépine-style layout with the crown positioned at 12 o’clock and a clean two-hand display, while the remaining two use a Savonnette-style arrangement with the crown at 3 o’clock alongside a small seconds subdial.
More importantly, the pocket watch comes in a surprisingly wearable 40mm case (44.2mm when mounted on the clip with the lanyard attachment). This contemporary sizing has already gotten parts of the watch world excited over the possibility of converting the timepiece into a wristwatch. In fact, Delugs, the Singapore-based strap specialist and Robb Report Singapore Thought Leader from 2025, has already announced Project WristPop, an aftermarket strap system designed to transform the pocket watch into a fully wearable wristwatch.
Whether worn on the wrist or otherwise, one thing is undeniable: Audemars Piguet and Swatch have gotten the watch world talking. Then again, did you really expect anything less?
