There are collaborations that feel predictable, safe little corporate handshakes wrapped in polite press releases, and then there are collaborations like this, where someone clearly walked into a boardroom and said, ‘What if we made a pocket watch outrageous enough to annoy purists and delight absolutely everyone else?’ Enter Audemars Piguet and Swatch with The Royal Pop, a creation that takes the aristocratic DNA of the Royal Oak and throws it gleefully into the wonderfully impractical world of pocket watches. It is large, loud, unapologetically playful, and gloriously unnecessary in the best possible way. Because no one needs a luxury pocket watch in 2026, which is precisely why it is brilliant. It is nostalgia wearing neon sneakers, tradition with a sense of humour, and proof that sometimes the future of watchmaking looks suspiciously like the past only bigger, brighter, and far less interested in behaving itself. This partnership is more than a tribute, it is a disruptive collaboration between two icons of Swiss watchmaking. The new collection takes inspiration from the iconic Royal Oak collection that was released during the quartz crisis by Gerald Genta in 1972 and the Swatch POP watches of the 1980s. Breaking the tradition, the watches can be worn around the neck, wrist, as a pocketwatch, and also has a removable stand that makes it a convenient desk watch.
Lépine-style Collection
This 40mm collection gets a winding crown positioned at 12 o’clock, octagonal bezel with eight hexagonal visible screws. The Petite Tapisserie dial gets hour, and minute hands and no other complication. There are six colours; pink case with a cherry red crown, white case-crown, green case, light green crown, lime green case, light blue crown, navy case-crown, and a black case-crown.
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Savonnette-style Collection
This 40mm collection gets a winding crown positioned at 3 o’clock, octagonal bezel with eight hexagonal visible screws. The Petite Tapisserie dial gets hour, and minute hands, and a small seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. There are two colours; blue case-light blue crown, and a pink case-yellow crown.
All eight timepieces are powered by calibre SISTEM51 a manual winding movement with a 90-hour power reserve, anti-magnetic Nivachron™ balance spring, factory set precision using laser technology, and a transparent caseback allowing partial view of the movement. Also the hour markers, and hour, minute hands gets Grade A Super-LumiNova®.
