Audemars Piguet Links With Swatch For An Affordable Timepiece

The days of dropping a down payment or the cost of a new car on an Audemars Piguet watch are over.

The luxury Swiss watch brand is linking up with another iconic Swiss watchmaker—albeit more affordable— Swatch, to create magic.

Together, the two will meld AP’s elite watch engineering with Swatch’s approachability.

They’ve both posted on Instagram about the collaboration, dubbed “Royal Pop,” with a graphic that shows the intricacies and inner workings of a watch coming together. Still, instead of the typical brushed steel, the parts are done up in bright colors and bold patterns.

“Introducing Audemars Piguet x Swatch, a disruptive collaboration that fuses joyful boldness and positive provocation with the art of haute horlogerie,” the post reads. “Two Swiss icons come together to reimagine a completely new way to wear time and bring future generations to the world of mechanical watches. Stay tuned!”

Fans won’t have to wait long, as the collab will be available on Saturday, May 16. 

Swatch has been teasing the collaboration for over a week, with the Royal Pop name likely a play on AP’s octagon-shaped watch, the Royal Oak, which debuted in 1972, and the word “pop,” related to the pop art stylings in the teaser posts.

But pop has a double meaning, thanks to the brand’s dedicated line of Top pieces that can be popped off their bands and be worn in other ways, like clipped onto your shirt, your bag, or even on a lanyard.

That could be what Swatch is going for with AP, because a post from May 3 shows a graphic that ran the length of a lanyard but was cut off before we could see what it was attached to.

Swatch has reached up for a collab before, like in 2022 when it launched the MoonSwatch line with Omega. It takes the iconic Omega Speedmaster—the first watch on the moon—and offers it in a less serious, Bioceramic all-plastic design, available in a bunch of fun colorways for around $300.

Now it appears AP is next in line to benefit from Swatch’s status as an everyday man’s brand.

Social media is ecstatic that they’ll finally be able to afford an AP and have already created mockups.

See the reactions below.