There is nothing quite like a Swatch tease. In the watch world, it has always been the joker in the school playground who aces his or her exams. So last weekend, when I saw a screenshot of a newspaper ad, a familiar Swatch-induced sensation came over me; the powers that be in Biel/Bienne were up to MoonSwatch-levels of no good again.
A few cryptic social media posts soon followed (wait, is that a lanyard?), quickly drawing assumptions online that it would be another Swatch brand but which one? Longines? Breguet? Maybe this was the moment to shine for Jaques Droz? Or, was a Swatch x Seamaster about to come to fruition?
Then late on Tuesday night, the watch world gasped. A no-caption-needed post on Swatch’s official Instagram with a short video displaying the words “Royal” and “Pop” sent people spiralling. A Swatch x Audemars Piguet collab? Surely not? Cue wild scenes of speculation and a feedful of dodgy AI generated Royal Oaks.
And now that Swatch has officially confirmed that whatever it is dropping on May 16 will be with Audemars Piguet, expect to see even more of those AI mock ups. No doubt Swatch Group’s CEO Mr Nick Hayek and his AP counterpart Ilaria Resta will be sitting back, enjoying all the renders; some people are predicting a wristwatch, some are reading into the lanyard thing being a pocket watch of sorts; but no one actually has a clue what’s coming.
What we do know: it’s a Swatch x AP collab, it involves the Royal Oak and Pop model lines, and it includes a lanyard… “It can’t be anything other than a pocket watch, and I assume one with interchangeable bezels, similar to the existing Mille Sabords watch from Swatch,” thinks Subdial’s Tim Green.
For another fine Tim in the industry, Vaux, he believes this week’s hype has overlooked the significance of the Pop in the teasers. “As someone who’s always loved vintage Swatches, that’s the detail that immediately came to mind for me,” says Vaux. “The original idea behind the Swatch Pop treated the watch as more than just something strapped to your wrist, you could pop the case out and use it in different ways entirely. If this collaboration taps into even a fraction of that spirit, then it could genuinely change the conversation around watch collaborations.”
Over in the US where the hype is just as real, Super Niche’s Perri Dash admits he has been privy to some rumours recently but isn’t sure what to make of them. “I heard AP and Swatch were experimenting with a bioceramic Royal Oak case for a while, so this feels inevitable, he says. “My guess is either a lanyard pocket watch or a Pop Swatch style piece on fabric and if they land it, this hits culture harder than MoonSwatch and signals that collaboration is the new language of relevance in watchmaking.”
The most interesting teasers for me are the lanyard-looking one, followed by a pop-arty “clak” one. Surely we’re looking at something that’s not a traditional wristwatch? A few watchmakers have toyed with watches that aren’t designed to be worn on the wrist. Hublot and Daniel Arsham got creative with a pocket watch, as did Christopher Ward and Studio Underd0g; Chanel had fun with a headphones-watch-necklace and Piaget released some watches recently to be worn around your neck. Each one definitely sits in niche territory though. This is what excites Hodinkee’s Malaika Crawford most: “The colourful straps make me think this is less serious Royal Oak homage and more fashion object,” she says. “A Miu Miu-coded Royal Oak bag charm would be a lot of fun.”
