On the morning of May 6, advertising appeared across major newspapers and platforms bearing only the logo of Swatch, maker of accessible quartz watches and part of one of the largest conglomerates of watchmaking in the world, with cryptic words like “Royal” and “Pop”.

It is the “Royal” version of the ad that has the internet in a tizzy. Collectors and enthusiasts – particularly us at the Style team – speculate that the “Royal” could even refer to the much-loved Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, especially given the “Royal” in the ad features the same font that the independent Swiss watchmaker uses for its own Royal Oak branding.

The Royal Oak, courtesy of Gerald Genta, is considered a grail piece for many, and one of the most recognised integrated sports watch designs on the planet since its release in 1972. We reached out to Audemars Piguet and Swatch Group but neither were available for comment at the time of publishing.

Swatch has established a precedent of releasing relatively affordable bioceramic versions of seminal luxury watches in the past. During the Covid pandemic, eager buyers lined up around store corners across the globe for the Swatch x Omega Bioceramic Moonswatch, which renders the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch design in an affordable material.

The Moonswatch gave the public a taste of all aspects of watch-buying during a boom for the watch market – from speculative flipping to riding the hype of a new hit model or getting firmly bitten by the watch-collecting bug – showing the power of combining an iconic design with an accessible price point to elevate a brand.

However, Swatch has only done one other example of this, also with another brand in the conglomerate’s umbrella, with the Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms which is inspired by Blancpain’s iconic dive watch, the Fifty Fathoms.