Swatch Is Finally About to Upstage the MoonSwatch

Update, May 8, 2026: Swatch and Audemars Piguet confirmed a new collaboration watch called the Royal Pop, set to be released Saturday, May 16. Catch up on details here.

In 2022, Swatch collaborated with sister brand Omega to launch the MoonSwatch. This BioCeramic take on the iconic, space-traveling, luxury chronograph was a sensation, to say the least. Swatch sold over a million of them in its first year, with the MoonSwatch becoming the rare horological object to cross over into the broader culture.

Swatch has been chasing that high ever since.

In the past four years, Swatch has released countless MoonSwatch variations, effectively bludgeoning the collab to the point of irrelevance. The brand also collaborated with another member of the Swatch Group, Blancpain, on a BioCeramic version of the legendary Fifty Fathoms dive watch in 2023. The Scuba Fifty Fathoms has its fans, including yours truly, but it failed to ignite anything close to the excitement we saw with the MoonSwatch.

Now, 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.

Swatch

Royal Swatch

It all started last month, when Swatch debuted a newspaper campaign during Watches and Wonders, teasing that “the real wonders are happening in May.” The ad featured three groups of 8 lanyards, each in the same 8 colors, with an “x Swatch” logo on the bottom. The word “wonders” was also in a comic book-style font.

The mystery deepened this week with additional newspaper ads featuring dotted backgrounds in a singular bright color (think Roy Lichtenstein style) showing off a Sistem 51 movement, but with only a single part exposed in each ad. Those single parts also featured decoration in line with the same Lichtenstein/comic-booky style.

Also this week, the campaign moved to Swatch’s Instagram page, where it has begun to receive a lot more attention.

On May 3, Swatch shared a short video depicting close-up views of five of those previously seen lanyards. We don’t see what they’re attached to, but each of them looks like they’re made of leather and all feature contrast stitching to complement their bold primary colors.

The following day, Swatch posted another short clip, this one even more mysterious. It features two sound effects that sound like some kind of clicking mechanism, accompanied by a graphic of the sound-effect word: “clac.” “Clac” is written in a comic book font and is accented by a blast-like word bubble, again driving home the comic, pop art style.

To sum up, so far we have a series of 8 colorful lanyards, an automatic movement, some kind of clicking mechanism and a pop art/comic book style that may or may not be related to Roy Lichtenstein. Intriguing, but hardly something that will generate MoonSwatch levels of excitement.

Late last night, however, 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.

Now here’s where we get into internet-breaking territory. “Royal” is written in the unmistakable font used by the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. As is “Pop,” which has its first “P” and “o” overlapping just like the “O” and “a” in the Royal Oak’s stylized logo. I view this is absolute confirmation that Swatch will release a Royal Oak collab on May 16.

But how did we get here, and what will the collab look like?

Bringing in a ringer

As far as the possible beginnings of this collab, it would appear they go back at least two years, and possibly even longer.

Italian Watch Spotter dug up an alleged old Instagram comment from the launch of the Scuba Fifty Fathoms, where someone wrote on Swatch’s post: “The end of AP. What’s next? SwatchOak?” The Audemars Piguet account then reportedly replied to this comment, tagging Swatch and asking, “When do we launch?”

I have no way of verifying if this reply actually happened three years ago or if it’s a fabrication someone threw up on Instagram to fool people, but I can confirm the trademark filing from 2024 that Italian Watch Spotter also unearthed. It shows that on June 18 of that year, Swatch registered the name “Royal Pop.”

What’s unusual here is that Audemars Piguet, unlike Omega and Blancpain, is not a member of the Swatch Group. It’s an independent brand, which immediately makes this different from Swatch’s previous two luxury watch collabs.

Audemars Piguet

What it tells me is that Swatch knows the rest of 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.

I honestly think 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.

Pop and locket

Obviously, the watch’s looks will play a big part in its popularity, so what can we expect from a Swatch Royal Oak? 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.

Swatch

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.

It seems pretty obvious that the Royal Pop will feature the Royal Oak’s signature octagonal case, probably in BioCeramic or some other kind of plastic, and it will be powered by a Sistem 51 automatic movement. It also seems obvious that it will come paired with a lanyard.

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.

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