Swatch Reveals Audemars Piguet Royal Pop Pocket Watch Collection

Swatch has released details of its collaboration with Audemars Piguet after social media filled with inaccurate AI-generated images of the planned Royal Pop Collection. The company moved up the announcement from the May 16 date it had initially indicated in social media posts.

The collection consists of eight pocket watches offered in two styles, Lépine and Savonnette, that incorporate octagonal bezels with visible screws and a tapisserie-style dial pattern drawn from earlier watch designs. In a statement, the company said the collection will change the way we wear watches.

The watches in the collaboration break free from the wrist, allowing you to wear the watch in unexpected, playful, and dynamic ways. The movement is a newly developed hand-wound version of the Sistem51 caliber with a 90-hour power reserve. It is visible through a transparent case back.

The Savonnette model also includes a small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock.

The pocket watches become available on May 16 at 200 select stores worldwide. Sales are restricted to one piece per person per store per day. The Lépine style is priced at $400 and the Savonnette style at $420. The watches measure 8.4 millimeters thick and 40 millimeters in diameter without the bioceramic holder clip.

With the clip attached they measure 44.2 by 53.2 millimeters. Each watch comes with a calfskin lanyard, and longer lanyards and desk clock holders in matching colors will be sold online.

The eight colors take their names from the word for the number eight in different languages. They are Huit Blanc (white), Otto Rosso (pink), Green Eight (green), Blaue Acht (lime green and blue), Orenji Hachi (navy and orange), Lan Ba (blue and light blue), Ocho Negro (black and white), and Otg Roz (pink, yellow and teal).

The design draws from a 1986 Swatch line that allowed watches to be removed from frames for use as brooches, bag clips or pocket watches. The company reported that lines had already begun forming at some stores before the official announcement. The teaser campaign featured images of colorful lanyards and looped straps consistent with pocket watch use.

Many social media posts showed AI-generated wristwatch versions in bright colors made from bioceramic material.