Has the Royal Pop Transitioned From Chaos to Cultural Phenomenon?

By Karen Dybis | May 21, 2026

Despite a chaotic rollout, Swatch and Audemars Piguet (AP) appear to have hit the jackpot with the Royal Pop, as attention has spread from watch obsessives into the zeitgeist, creating a viral sensation that sparks broader interest in timepieces, helps grow the brands, and offers lessons in how to sell luxury.

Royal Pop’s in-store release last Saturday caused long lines, temporary store closures, and police intervention—but the Swatch x Audemars Piguet pocket watch collaboration is responsible for putting eyes on watches this week and boosting the resale and third-party accessories market.

“As a company, this is exactly the type of moment we look for. Our job is not only to sell straps, but to understand how people actually want to wear their watches,” says Thomas Luthy, founder of Swiss watch strap and accessory brand Helvetus, which started working on a Royal Pop strap and case collection when Swatch first teased the product on Instagram on May 5.

“People are still very drawn to objects with emotion, design, and scarcity. Especially younger buyers want products that feel like a story, not just a function. Royal Pop is not only about telling time; it is about culture, hype, design, resale, collecting, and being part of the moment,” Luthy says.

Reseller websites such as Chrono24 have reported a surge in new buyers. Chrono24 said that the Royal Pop has accounted for its biggest Swatch demand ever recorded, and that the site has gotten nearly three times the traffic for the Royal Pop that it did for MoonSwatch, a 2022 Swatch collab with Omega.

“Swatch pocket watch” and “AP Swatch wrist watch” were breakout searches on Google Trends this week. The platform said its top 10 trending “where to buy” searches were all related to the Royal Pop.

Swatch Audemars Piguet Royal Pop — *An image from Swatch’s Instagram when it announced its upcoming product release in collaboration with Audemars Piguet on May 8*

To top off an already media-laden week, Audemars today dropped another collaboration: a limited-edition Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillion, created with Asian streetwear label Ambush. The partnership should put the watch—AP’s icon—on the radar of more consumers in Tokyo and Seoul, key growth areas for the luxury and watch markets.

The Royal Pop, which Swatch priced at $400–$420, was averaging around $1,668 on Chrono24, the site said in a Thursday report. Listings have ranged from $1,158 to more than $2,900. Of the eight color variations, black has been most popular with Chrono24 buyers, followed by pink and turquoise.

“What stands out is how many of the buyers are entering the watch market for the first time,” Chrono24 head of brand engagement Balazs Ferenczi said in a statement. “Swatch has become the defining player in this field, first with Omega and the MoonSwatch, now with Audemars Piguet and the Royal Pop.”

The Royal Pop has produced a ripple effect, said Chrono24, with customers looking at other AP watches, especially the Royal Oak. Chrono24 has also seen increased interest this week in the MoonSwatch as well as Swatch’s other notable collaboration, with Blancpain on a version of its Fifty Fathoms scuba watch.

“The collaboration is not just generating attention for the entry-level piece. It is opening a door to the wider Audemars Piguet universe,” the Chrono24 report said. Helvetus’ Luthy agrees. He says collaborations like Royal Pop work because they bring a serious luxury name into a more accessible, playful format.

“People can criticize them in the short term, and there is always a debate about whether it helps or hurts the luxury brand. But MoonSwatch is a great example. It did not destroy Omega. If anything, it put Omega into conversations with a much broader and younger audience,” Luthy says.

royal pop case helvetus — *Helvetus is creating straps and cases so the Royal Pop, designed as a pocket watch, can be worn on the wrist—and they come in many colors, just like the Royal Pop does.*

“The same happened with Blancpain x Swatch. And now with Royal Pop, the idea has gone even further, because Audemars Piguet is not part of the Swatch Group. That tells you something about how successful this format has become. If these collaborations did not work, they would not keep happening.”

For Helvetus—which already makes straps for several Royal Oak models—“when Swatch posted the [Royal Pop] teaser, it was quite clear to us where this was going,” says Luthy. “The use of Royal, the visual language, the way it was written, and the connection to the old Pop Swatch concept all pointed in the same direction.”

Helvetus had commented “ROYAL POP STRAPS INCOMING….🔥” on Swatch’s Insta post. “When a launch like this happens,” Luthy tells JCK, “we ask ourselves: What will customers want next? What will be missing? What will be the practical issue, and how can we solve it in a way that feels natural for the watch?”

But Swatch and AP didn’t make it too easy, Luthy says. “Royal Pop is not built like a normal wristwatch, so we cannot simply attach a standard strap to it. We need a dedicated case system that holds the watch correctly, feels secure, and still looks like it belongs with the design. That is the part that takes time.”

Someone on Helvetus’ team waited in line for around nine hours in Lucerne to get a Royal Pop, then the company sent it by overnight FedEx to its manufacturing partners so they could work from the real product, not just from photos or online information.

The strap-making process involves measurements, technical drawings, case adapter development, stainless steel mold work, sampling, fitting, quality checks, and packaging. The molds are usually what takes the most time, especially when the fit has to be precise, Luthy says. He expects Helvetus’ Royal Pop straps and case system to be ready around the end of June.

“We know there will always be companies that try to be the fastest. But for us, speed is not the only point,” says Luthy. “People are buying into the AP and Swatch story because of the design, the detail, and the brand connection. If they put it on the wrist, the strap and case system also need to feel premium. We would rather be one of the first serious options than rush something that is not good enough.”

While the Royal Pop has, at least temporarily, revived the pocket watch, Luthy doesn’t expect a long-term boom for the sector.

“Pocket watches themselves probably will not return in the old traditional way,” he says. “In a sense, the most successful pocket watch today is the phone.

“For us, it is exciting because launches like this bring new energy into watches,” adds Luthy. “They get younger people talking, they create debate, and they make the category feel alive. That is healthy for the industry, even if not everyone agrees with the product.”

Top: The Royal Pop pocket watch, as adapted for the wrist by Swiss accessories brand Helvetus (photos courtesy of Helvetus)