In Praise of the Summer Watch
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‘Tis the season for something cheerful, colorful, and just plain fun.
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An array of bright, summery watches featured in the latest edition of the Big Black Book. (Photo credit: Tex Bishop)
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The term “fun watch” sounds like an oxymoron. Amongst the more expensive things we covet, horology is way up there. It’s a serious business, its allure bound up in intricate engineering, precious materials, and ancient brand names synonymous with unimpeachable luxury. There isn’t, you might think, much room for fun in all that.
However, the frenzy unleashed by the release of the Royal Pop collection, a collab between Audemars Piguet and Swatch, two watchmaking giants at opposite poles of the industry, suggests otherwise. You couldn’t call the riotous scenes outside Swatch stores fun by any stretch, but get past the hype (and the uneasy pearl-clutching of watch writers unsure if it’s even a good thing), and you see that the Royal Pop is exactly what watchmaking could do with on a regular basis—something bright, accessible, and affordable.
Made in an array of bright toy-box colors in bioceramic (a bioplastic made of about two-thirds ceramic and one-third castor oil, in case you were wondering), the Royal Pop isn’t even a watch. It’s a Labubu, something you can hang from the handle of your Birkin, or, with the longer lanyard, around your neck like a medallion.
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The AP x Swatch Royal Pop pocket watch in the “Otg Roz” colorway. (Photo credit: Swatch)
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In the ‘80s, Swatch was one of the first to demystify watchmaking on a global scale. While being accessibly priced it also became a hit in particular with Italian entrepreneurs, who could easily afford the most expensive watches on the market. Wearing a $40 plastic watch in bright colors with your bespoke suit telegraphed across a boardroom table that you were creative minded, lighthearted, and, critically, could think outside the box (even if you couldn’t). Something of that allure lies in the runaway success of the Royal Pop, which is fast eclipsing the first Swatch Group collab in this vein, the MoonSwatch inspired by Omega’s iconic Speedmaster that launched in 2022. There’s no doubt it’s good for Swatch. But is it goof for AP?
Within the watch industry, much similar soul-searching attended the launch of the MoonSwatch. Do I like it? Is it right? Is it worth it? Do I want it? Am I suffering from FOMO? The answer to all the above, in the case of the Royal Pop, is a big fat yes. Will I risk life and limb outside a Swatch store to get hold of one? Maybe not. I’ll wait. It’s the way of all things that resale prices—and demand—will drop. In the meantime, fun watches are everywhere if you know where to look.
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The “Mission to Mars” MoonSwatch. (Photo credit: Swatch)
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If the Royal Pop is not for you, injecting a bit of fun into your watch collection does not require fisticuffs outside a Swatch store. Check out our feature on summer-fling watches from the latest edition of Big Black Book right here. For a couple of hundred dollars, you can add color and fun to your collection with watches that offer short-term gratification and the satisfaction of not being a victim of the latest horological fad. Think of it as a summer fling, a holiday romance. Some things don’t last forever.
There’s another option, too.
A more recherché way to get into the fun watch thing is vintage. Of course, there are thousands if not millions of vintage Swatch watches out there, but it goes further. The fun watch, you see, wasn’t even new when Swatch launched back in 1983.
British brand Old England, a subsidiary of Accurist, was the proto-Swatch, launched almost 20 years earlier in 1967, by entrepreneur Richard Loftus at the height of the UK’s swinging ‘60s. His idea, groundbreaking at the time, was the fashion watch. This meant bright and bold designs that changed every few months that were aimed as much at women as men, and conceived to fit with your wardrobe. Although these watches used basic Swiss movements and parts, they were the antithesis of traditional watches—bold, oversized, and decorated with design cues taken not without irony from historical British iconography. Dials featured the face of Big Ben, a Holbein miniature of Henry VIII, or jumbo Union Jack flags. In a short video interview conducted in 1969, Loftus even proposed a beach watch he was developing, sealed with sound waves into a plastic case to make it waterproof. Revolutionary!
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The author’s own Old England watch. (Photo credit: Nick Sullivan)
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Old England was a big hit in the UK and the US through the 1970s and well into the Swatch era with its quirky and iconoclastic take on horology. Clever marketing (or just plain luck) saw Old England appear on the wrists of icons like the Beatles, Twiggy, and actress Diana Rigg, who wore Old England on screen as Emma Peel in the Avengers series. Even Mick Jagger got into it. I know about Old England because of Mick. Having spent months trying to identify a giant (55mm) watch on his wrist in a grainy old photo from the early 1970s, a mate of mine pointed out exactly what it was. I sought one out right away on eBay, nabbing the exact model with box and papers for a shade under $100. Theres a lot more out there still, including a series of funky pocket watches—very like the Royal Pop, in fact—except you could wear them on the belt of your miniskirt or even around your ankle.
We’ll have to wait to see where the fun watch goes next. But for now, I can assure you it’s a very good time to snag one and wear it wherever you like all summer long.
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Thanks for reading this week’s Big Black Book newsletter. See you in a couple weeks. Until then, feel free to drop me a note at nicksullivanesquire@hearst.com.
- Nick Sullivan, creative director
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Speaking of the “Royal Pop,” we’ve got a hands-on look at the whole collection. If you’re looking for something with a more classic vibe, Seiko’s got a lot of good stuff coming this summer. Here’s a chat with Lenny Kravitz about style, performing live, and, of course, watches. Need a break from horology? Check out our picks for the best loafers out there right now.
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