What You Need to Know
Swatch and Audemars Piguet launched their Royal Pop collection on May 16, a line of colorful pocket watches priced starting at $400 and modeled on AP’s iconic Royal Oak. The collection generated 11 billion social media views, according to Wired, and drew massive crowds to Swatch stores in cities across the world, from Paris to New York. Swatch Group’s share price jumped 15% in the two weeks leading up to launch, and the company confirmed the watches will remain available for several months to meet ongoing demand.
The Royal Pop comes in eight colorways referencing the Royal Oak’s octagonal design and wears on a calfskin lanyard rather than a wrist strap, making it wearable around the neck, on the wrist or clipped to a bag. Swatch limits purchases to one per customer, but the demand has pushed resale prices well past the retail price, with listings on eBay ranging from over $1,000 to as high as $6,000. The appeal is straightforward: for $400, you get a piece of Audemars Piguet, a brand whose watches typically start in the tens of thousands of dollars. For AP, the collab puts its name in front of a new generation of shoppers who may grow into future customers.
