Rubbish Check
CNBC Top News · 26 September 2026
source“Audemars Piguet says its Royal Pop collaboration with Swatch is breaking sales records, despite luxury watch slump and tariffs”
R4/ 10
Selective
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates CNBC's headline that Audemars Piguet's Royal Pop is "breaking sales records" a 4/10 because the only evidence for that claim is the CEO's own unverified word, since AP is privately held and discloses no audited revenue or profit figures.
The Verdict
Selective. The headline correctly hedges with "says," but the body treats a private company's self-reported, unaudited claims (record months, 10% organic growth, 20 billion social mentions) as established fact, while the genuinely verifiable industry data (US exports down sharply) gets buried well below the fold and isn't reconciled with AP's specific US performance.
What actually happened
Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta told CNBC that sales and social engagement have surged since the May launch of Royal Pop, a $400 collaboration with Swatch. She described record months every month since launch and 10% organic sales growth in 2025, attributing it to a "radical openness" strategy aimed at younger buyers, even as the wider Swiss watch industry faces declining exports and new US tariffs.
Key facts
- Royal Pop watches launched in May 2026 at $400 each, a fraction of AP's typical $30,000+ Royal Oak starting price.
- AP is privately held and family-owned and, per the article itself, "doesn't report revenue or profits", so the 10% organic growth figure is Resta's unverified claim, not an audited number.
- Independently verifiable industry data: exports to the US fell 19%, while shipments to the UK, France, Japan, China, and Hong Kong all showed significant gains, with overall exports up 1.7% for the year to date; the article's own figure of a 19% August US drop against 9% global growth matches this.
- The top four Swiss brands (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille) account for about half of industry sales and 76% of profits, per Morgan Stanley/LuxeConsult, meaning AP's health reflects a concentrated elite tier, not the industry-wide picture the "slump" framing implies.
What to watch for
- Watch for AP's actual financials if the family ever discloses them, or leaked figures via Richemont/LVMH comparables, since no third party has yet confirmed the "record month" claims.
- Track whether US-specific AP sales (not global) hold up against the 19% national export decline to the US; the headline's "despite tariffs" claim rests on Resta's word alone for that specific market.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
