Skip to main content

Cassette Studio gives collectors what they need to wear their luxury collectable

Cassette Studio turns the Swatch x Audemars Piguet Royal Pop into a wristwatch

By Mark D McKee Published May 13, 2026

Wristwatch, Arm, Body Part — Cassette Studio

The luxury watch world is filled with dedicated collectors. Those collectors go from release to release, voicing thoughts and opinions that you can find all over the internet. There is no shortage of feedback if you are a manufacturer. Of course, they absolutely love the limited edition release windows and the rare find. And nothing gets them more hyped than a collaboration of legends. When brightly colored and personality-driven Swatch teamed with Audemars Piguet to create the Swatch x Audemars Piguet Royal Pop, chronophiles everywhere perked up. What they got was eight flashy colors of a Royal Oak silhouette in a lanyard pocket watch. For the gents who like to wear their limited edition, this was a let-down. That is where Cassette Studio went into action.

Completing the collector’s dream

This wasn’t a long-awaited, slow-burning consideration coming to life. This was a reaction to the disappointment that this once-in-a-lifetime collaboration couldn’t be worn on the wrist. To fix the problem, Cassette Studios developed a kit that makes the collectable wearable. The case, bezel, and all the mechanics fit directly into a vessel and bracelet, making the Swatch x Audemars Piguet Royal Pop a wearable wristwatch. Here is what you need to know about the solution to the problem created by the collaboration.

Key details include:

Purpose-built case for the Swatch x Audemars Piguet Royal Pop
Snap-in construction designed to hold the Royal Pop module securely
Integrated bracelet for a complete wristwatch profile
Deployment clasp for easy daily wear
Designed to preserve the Royal Pop’s original visible design
Available now for pre-order
Expected shipping window: June 30 through August 19

Recommended Videos

Collectors are about class, style, heritage, and status. And who wants to put all those in their pocket? Cassette Studios created a way to put all of those on their wrists.

Pick one up here

Editor

Mark cut his teeth in the men's style world when he sold suits first at box stores such as Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank…

Topics

Watches

Fashion & Style

Breitling’s new Top Time is a wearable tribute to the Aston Martin DB5

The new watches rep the iconic Bond car right down to subdials shaped like its dashboard gauges.

Car, Watch, Man

Breitling just released a trio of heaters: the Top Time B01 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Aston Martin DB5, a three-edition collaboration with the British carmaker. The connection between the Swiss watchmaker and the British car company runs back to 1965, when a Top Time ref. 2002 appeared on Sean Connery's wrist in Thunderball, worn alongside the DB5 — the first Q-modified watch in the Bond series. It's a nice bit of trivia that the DB5 and that Top Time shared the screen in the same film, and both went on to outlive the movie by decades.

The car cues go deeper than the "squircle" gauge-shaped subdials: a wooden inner ring nods to the DB5's steering wheel, and each edition rides on a hand-colored gradient calfskin strap meant to read like automotive upholstery. All three run on Breitling's in-house Manufacture Caliber 01, a COSC-certified automatic chronograph with a 70-hour power reserve, visible through a sapphire caseback and finished with an Aston Martin-engraved rotor. The case measures 41mm. The editions are divvied up by material and rarity. Stainless steel with a silver dial is limited to 1,022 pieces and sticks closest to the original ref. 2002, while steel with a platinum bezel and black lacquered dial drops to 315 pieces.

Fashion & Style

Look to the sky for these space themed watches

These 5 space themed watches will have you seeing stars

Accessories, Strap, Wristwatch

It was the 1960s. We were in the middle of a Cold War with Russia, and instead of escalating to an actual war with bullets and bombs, we took the conflict to the sky. We created a war of economics, science, and morale in a race to the sky to be the first nation to reach the moon. While the race picked up throughout the decade, it came down to the wire before the USA won the race by landing on the moon (if you believe that sort of thing and don't believe Stanley Kubrick directed the greatest ruse of all time). In any case, no race can be run without a good timekeeper. And watches were a must-have for all involved. Ever since, chronophiles like me have been obsessed with space-themed watches and, in particular, moon mission watches.

That is why I happened to have this list in my head. Five watches that bring the space race and the great beyond to the forefront of thinking to build a collection that is out of this world.

Fashion & Style

Legendary designer has a project coming up you may not know about

Legendary designer, Tom Ford, is writing and directing a film adapting the Anne Rice novel, Cry to Heaven

Accessories, Formal Wear, Tie

Tom Ford is a name that every fashionisto knows well. He is the top of the top when you talk about famous suit makers. He began his career changing the landscape of multiple brands, including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, before launching his own self-named brand of his own in 2005. The brand has remained a mainstay in the industry for the last 20 years, including the acquisition of Estée Lauder in 2022 for an estimated $2.8 billion. For the movie buffs in the room, you also likely know about Tom Ford because he became the exclusive tailor and suitmaker for Daniel Craig's James Bond for Quantum of Solace in 2008. He carried that gig all the way through the series and defined men's style for two decades.

Now, for the real cinephiles in the room, you may also know that Tom Ford himself is a movie buff and entered the industry as a writer and a director in 2009 by directing A Single Man with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Then again in 2016 with Nocturnal Animals with Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michael Shannon. Of course, the wardrobe was stellar in both, and we will get a chance to see his talents onscreen again this fall with a new Anne Rice adaptation, Cry to Heaven.