AP x Swatch collab popping off royally on secondary market

Demand for the hottest ticket in town — the new Royal Pop — has far outstripped the peak demand for the MoonSwatch.

That’s according to data from pre-owned platform Chrono24, which says that it has seen 2.9x the interest in the Audemars Piguet collaboration with Swatch, versus the Omega collab from 2022.

Interestingly, Chrono24 says that the majority of interested buyers are new to the site, suggesting that the Royal Pop has broken into a new demographic, which would be fantastic news for the whole watch ecosystem and not just the two brands involved.

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

There are clear favourites across the eight variants, according to Chrono24’s data, with the black reference a clear frontrunner, followed by pink and turquoise.

Although the spectrum of listed prices is fairly large, the sales have found a slightly narrower equilibrium point, with the average selling price standing at €1,440. “Both listings and actual transactions still span a wide range,” said Ferenczi. “That is typical for the first days after a hype launch. In past launches, the spread has narrowed within a few weeks as the market converged on a stable level.”

As is often the case with these much-hyped collaborations, the positivity spills over into other models. Chrono24 has seen demand for the AP Royal Oak surge 40%; an increase in demand of 422% for the MoonSwatch; and a 472% increase in demand for the Swatch x Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathoms.