The Swatch Collaboration Effect — Here’s What Happened (This Time)

The Audemars Piguet × Swatch Royal Pop watch resulted in long queues at Swatch boutiques worldwide. We witnessed the chaos and mayhem at several of them on May 16th. Police had to enforce order, stores had to close, mall owners were angry, and managers of nearby shops were pissed because they couldn’t open or had damage to their storefronts. According to Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek Jr., there was a bit too much chaos in 10% of the Royal Pop points of sale.

The Royal Pop hype

In the days and weeks before the launch, the speculation game was full on. And with the help of AI tools, many ideas about what it might look like were floating around on social media. Mainly, they were renderings of wristwatches, but some also got the hint of it being a pendant watch. The hype was carefully planned and built, and it was very impressive to witness it from the sidelines. At the very least, it was an interesting move from Audemars Piguet, a family-owned high-end watch brand that always underlines its exclusivity and sense of luxury, to partner with Swatch, which has produced over 400 million watches since 1983 and whose products are usually not exclusive or luxurious but just fun.

Lex wrote an article on this collaboration and its relevance to the watch game the other week. He dove into the hype we saw a few weeks ago, sparked by Swatch and Audemars Piguet, as well as into the prior collaborations with other (non-)watch brands. His article on Fratello is an opinionated piece on what these collaborations mean for Swatch and its partners, and how their effects differ.

Was the Royal Pop as successful as the MoonSwatch?

But can we say if this latest Swatch collaboration was truly successful? Swatch and Audemars Piguet have been expressing the project’s success, of course, but numbers are rarely disclosed (although Swatch was happy to announce the millionth MoonSwatch at some point).

Was the demand for the new Swatch Royal Pop real? Whether fueled by scalpers, collectors, or those who want to wear them, the numbers show a clear peak in demand for Swatch watches. It would also be interesting to learn how demand or hype for the Royal Pop compares to that for previous Swatch collaborations. If I had to guess, the initial hype for the Royal Pop was perhaps a bit more intense, but it faded rather quickly. The MoonSwatch hype seems to have lasted longer.

Two weeks after the Royal Pop launch, it suddenly became rather quiet about it on social media again, whereas the run on MoonSwatch models continued for a while. But this is all based on what I encounter in our comments section, the number of reads on our articles, and what I see on social media. What does the data say about the Royal Pop?

Chrono24 numbers on the Royal Pop

We can all make guesses about how popular a certain watch or brand is, but the best approach is to have some numbers at hand, of course. Watch market platform Chrono24, which is part of the same group as Fratello, dug up data on demand for the Swatch Royal Pop during its launch and in the weeks that followed. All the graphics and numbers come courtesy of Chrono24.

Halo effect on the MoonSwatch and Royal Oak

On Chrono24, the demand for the Audemars Piguet × Swatch Royal Pop watch was 2.9 times that of the MoonSwatch at its peak (March 2022). For demand, Chrono24 indicates a purchase request or inquiry made for a watch, not just views or clicks. There was also a halo effect on Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watches, as demand increased by 40%. And, closer to the Swatch Royal Pop product, demand for the MoonSwatch rose by a whopping 422% compared to the previous six months.

Two weeks after the May 16th introduction, Chrono24 reports that both demand and resale prices for the Royal Pop dropped significantly again. Demand fell to 1.4 times that of the MoonSwatch in 2022 (14 days post-launch). The number of listings on Chrono24 dropped by 80% from the launch peak. Although the trend line was similar for the MoonSwatch, the number of new MoonSwatch listings was higher. The average resale price for the Royal Pop fell from €1,440 in the first days to just below €1,000 two weeks after launch. In those first days, 80% of sales (transactions) were between €1,100 and €1,850. The most desirable Royal Pop is the blue Làn Ba (at €1,660), whereas the MoonSwatch’s most favorable version was the Mission to Neptune, due to its “paint mistake.” The blue came off, leaving stains on wearers’ wrists, halting production for a time, and making the Neptune scarcer.

What happens next

Despite all the pushback the Royal Pop (and the MoonSwatch) received from many watch enthusiasts, the demand appears to be very real. The watch industry needs a bit of buzz and excitement from time to time, especially if it wants to attract a new audience. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, of course. Let’s see what it will do for the watch industry in the long term, especially for the brands involved.

José Gaztelu, CEO of Chrono24: “You have to give credit to Swatch and Audemars Piguet for the conviction it takes to do something like this. Swatch opened this door with the MoonSwatch, and bringing Audemars Piguet into it takes the idea a step further. It has pulled attention into the watch world far beyond the usual circles, including onto the secondary market. A lot of people are looking at watches for the first time because of it. What happens next is the interesting part, and we will be watching closely how resale behaviour develops over the coming weeks.”

Aside from your sentiments about these Swatch collaborations, which do you feel had a greater impact, the MoonSwatch or Royal Pop?