Swatch & AP Collab, Cerebras Boosts IPO Price, Trump to Visit China | Diet TBPN

This week's Diet TBPN episode dives into a mix of luxury watch news, AI hardware momentum, and geopolitical developments, with guests queued up for deeper dives including Quaid from Basel on the Audemars Piguet-Swatch tie-up. Highlights span accessible Royal Oak designs, Cerebras's blockbuster IPO path, and Trump-Xi talks shadowed by the Iran conflict.

AP Partners with Swatch on Affordable Royal Oak

Audemars Piguet (AP) announced a collaboration with Swatch for a watch echoing the Royal Oak's octagonal bezel and dial, launched via a CGI video that sparked AI debates. Priced around $400 retail and in-store only (one per person per day), it's positioned as an entry-level option amid AP's lack of lower-tier models—Royal Oaks now start at $30,000+ on secondary markets, with Codes at mid-20s. Hosts see it as a smart move: bridging the price gap, leaning into market fakes (evident in blind tests nailing counterfeits), and possibly damage control after AP lost trademarks in Japan (2024) and the US (2025) on the bezel/dial's distinctiveness. Trade dress protections remain, preventing full knockoffs.