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Swatch and Audemars Piguet Launch Bioceramic Royal Pop Pocket Watches
Instagram users circulated AI images of colorful plastic Royal Oak wristwatches for a week before the official Royal Pop collection of eight bioceramic pocket watches launched on Tuesday. The collaboration references the 1979 Royal Oak Pocket Watch and uses a new Sistem51 movement with a 90-hour power reserve.
May 14, 8:52 AM·2m read1 source
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Swatch and Audemars Piguet confirmed their Royal Pop collaboration on May 8, 2026. Instagram watch fans had already spent the previous week sharing AI-generated images of colorful plastic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak wristwatches in navy, orange, pink, yellow, and green. The real Royal Pop collection launched on Tuesday ahead of schedule.
The Royal Pop Collection consists of eight pocket watches made from Swatch's bioceramic composite. The Royal Pop Lépine style has the crown at 12 and is priced at $400.
The Royal Pop design references the 1979 Royal Oak Pocket Watch reference 5691. It uses an entirely new hand-wound version of Swatch's Sistem51 caliber that is completely machine assembled. Swatch has 15 active patents on the new Sistem51 iteration used in the Royal Pop.
The Royal Pop movement has a 90-hour power reserve. It includes an antimagnetic Nivachron balance spring codeveloped with Audemars Piguet. The Royal Pop design allows the watches to ping out of their bioceramic holder clips, referencing Swatch's 1986 POP line.
75 percent drop in sales in 2025. 6 percent decline in operating profit in 2025. The 2025 Swatch Group sales drop was primarily attributed to a sharp drop in demand for its watches in China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Omega enjoyed a 50 percent bump in sales following the release of the MoonSwatch. Chris Hall, founder of The Fourth Wheel Substack, stated: “The prelaunch hype has become a key part of it all, an enormously valuable part. Today's audience is even more clued-in than it was four years ago.
