I hate pocket watches but I love the Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop – here's why

Well, it's official – Audemars Piguet has collaborated with Swatch on a new watch in the MoonSwatch vein. Launching on May 16th, the Royal Pop is being described as a pocket watch in the officially released images.

However, the 'pop' moniker is one long-term fans of Swatch will remember as a system for switching out the watch into different forms. That means – at least in theory – the watch should be able to move between the lanyard, as well as wrist-mounted straps and possibly even bag charms, if Swatch is employing the full gamut of retro features.

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After days of AI-generated rumours and very, very dark pictures of the back of a watch, the model has now been officially showcased. And boy, oh boy, is it good.

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The collection consists of eight models, with six offering two-handed functionality with a crown at the 12 o'clock position, and a further two featuring a small seconds sub-dial at the six o'clock position with a crown at three o'clock as is standard.

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All of them feature bold, pop art colours, with different levels of intensity. My personal favourite is the pink, yellow and teal model, which is simply dripping with 80s cool.

Of course, there are also some more conservative designs. Black with a white bezel is likely to be a popular pick, while the white with rainbow indices could also find its way into a lot of hands.

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All of the watches utilise an upgraded version of the SISTEM51 calibre, which is manually wound and features a Nivachrom balance spring. The models utilise a 40mm case, which sits an impressive 8.4mm slim.

The models will be priced at £335 / €385 / US$400 / AU$630 for the two-hand models and £350 / €400 / US$420 /AU$670 for those with a small seconds register. Personally, I'm a big fan of this. I'm expecting the queues – which have been growing more than a week before the launch date – to be massive.