In March 2024, Tokyo's IP High Court rejected Audemars Piguet's application. The ruling stated clearly: the Royal Oak design lacks the distinctiveness required to be protected as an exclusive trademark.

Source: thefashionlaw website

In January 2025, the same scenario unfolded in Washington. The USPTO refused a similar application, and the TTAB upheld the decision when AP appealed.
Two consecutive losses on opposite sides of the world point to the same legal conclusion: the Royal Oak's silhouette is not yet recognized as a "trademark." This means smaller brands can legally produce watches with an octagonal bezel, eight exposed screws, and a tapisserie dial without infringement.

Sixteen months after the US ruling, AP announced Royal Pop with Swatch.
Is this really a coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

A Surprising Launch
On May 16, 2026, Audemars Piguet and Swatch officially released Royal Pop. 

Source: Swatch Official Website 

The collection consists of eight pocket watch variants in different colorways, drawing inspiration from the Royal Oak Pocket Watch reference 5691 in AP's archives and Swatch's Pop Watch line.

Source: Pocket Watch Ref 5691 _ AP Official Website 

Inside runs the Sistem 51 - Swatch's signature movement and the brand's only mechanical caliber assembled 100% automatically.

Source: Swatch Official Website 

This also marks the first time a Royal Oak design appears in two classical pocket watch formats: the Lépine with an open dial, and the Savonnette with a hunter case cover.
Royal Pop is sold exclusively at Swatch boutiques worldwide, with no online release. In Asia, the closest points of sale to Vietnam are in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan.

Two Rulings
AP's trademark battle began five years ago in Japan. In February 2020, Audemars Piguet filed an application to register the Royal Oak design as a trademark with the Japan Patent Office (JPO).

In July 2021, the JPO rejected the application. The reasoning: elements such as the octagonal bezel and tapisserie pattern were "common in the industry" and insufficient to establish distinctiveness for AP alone. The brand appealed, but in March 2024, Japan's IP High Court upheld the JPO's decision.

In the US, the script played out almost identically. The USPTO rejected AP's trademark application for the Royal Oak design in January 2024, and one year later, the TTAB dismissed AP's appeal.

Both legal bodies shared the same logic: consumers identify the Royal Oak primarily through the "AUDEMARS PIGUET" wordmark on the dial, not through its overall shape. As a result, the Royal Oak design — however iconic — is not considered an exclusive brand signifier under trademark law.

The Tokyo and Washington rulings place AP in a difficult position. If Casio, Citizen, or a workshop in Guangzhou were to release a watch tomorrow with an octagonal bezel, eight exposed screws, and a tapisserie dial, they would be legally in the clear.

In this situation, AP is left with two options. The first is to sue manufacturers one by one — a costly battle with no clear endpoint. The second is to redefine the "affordable Royal Oak" on AP's own terms, before someone else does.

Royal Pop can be read as the second option. The choice of pocket watch over wristwatch is the telling detail: it extends AP's reputation and completes a heritage tribute story (Pocket Watch Ref. 5691) without creating a direct competitor to the tens-of-thousands-of-dollars Royal Oak on the wrist.

Royal Pop may also simply be AP's way of expanding business - bringing the Royal Oak design into a lower-priced segment where it poses virtually no risk to the wristwatch lineup worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Will Royal Pop Repeat the MoonSwatch Story? 
Many collectors worry the Royal Oak will be "devalued" — losing some of its iconic stature — after this collaboration, similar to what is said to have happened to Speedmaster after MoonSwatch.

Nguồn: Swatch Official Website 

Omega has indeed slipped from #2 to #5 in global luxury watch rankings since 2022, though the exact cause remains debated.

Perhaps it is precisely the lesson from Omega that shaped Royal Pop's pocket watch format. A pocket watch doesn't compete directly with a wristwatch; it lives in a different collecting ritual, a different occasion, a different customer group. The decision appears intentional from the start.

Source: thedivewatchconnection.com

The real answer lies in the market response after May 16. Stay with The Quintime as we watch closely: whether Royal Pop will expand access while preserving Royal Oak's value, or produce the same "dilution effect" MoonSwatch was once suspected of triggering.

Conclusion
Is this collaboration a defensive legal move, a step toward bringing the Royal Oak design closer to a wider audience, or simply good business? All three readings may be true at once.

A question worth reflecting on: if another brand - not Swatch - were to release a watch tomorrow with an octagonal bezel, eight exposed screws, and a tapisserie dial, what would the watch community call it? A Royal Oak knockoff, or just another sports watch with a similar design?

Source: teddybaldassarre

"Each watch tells its own story" - and the story of where the line falls between "icon" and "common design language" for the Royal Oak may have only just begun.

Meghan Nguyen