New Release: Audemars Piguet x KAWS Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Companion Watch
Audemars Piguet, the Swiss high-end watchmaker, has long been involved in the world of art. The latest manifestation of this interest is the collaboration between Audemars Piguet and contemporary artist KAWS (Brian Donnelly) on a watch – dubbed the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Companion Watch. It is a limited edition luxury watch that seeks to combine the high-end fashion of the Royal Oak Concept collection with the popularity of KAWS’ aesthetic among Pop Art collectors.
As Audemars Piguet aptly puts it, the product “reinterprets haute horlogerie (i.e. its products) through the lens of artist KAWS”. The result, like many of KAWS’s other well-known works, incorporates existing ideas into something new and fresh, clearly evoking the iconic Royal Oak and KAWS’ world, with a human figure adorning the center of the dial. The KAWS Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Companion is certainly not for everyone, but it is one of the more serious Pop Art luxury watches to be released this year. Audemars Piguet has used the Royal Oak Concept as a platform for other limited edition collaborative timepieces (such as those celebrating the Marvel superhero universe via Spider-Man and Black Panther models), which aren’t as visually interesting or cohesive as their work with KAWS.
The first time I remember KAWS collaborating with a luxury watchmaker was during the second (now third) phase of Swiss watchmaker Ikepod in 2012. Later, toward the end of RJ’s (formerly Romain Jerome) last phase, I remember seeing some RJ-branded KAWS collectible figurines (although I don’t think the collaborative watches stemmed from that relationship). Now, the KAWS aesthetic is back in a watch that costs over $200,000 and is only available to high-end collectors. The watch is so high-end primarily because underneath the artwork is the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon timepiece—which is always high-end. The dial features a three-dimensional image of a KAWS character (I believe it was called “Companion”). mens replica watches
The dial has a solid hour triangle and an open minute triangle on the edge, which float around the dial, eschewing a traditional central mounting. This leaves an opening for the tourbillon, while also letting the dial composition peek through. It’s like a very high-end Mickey Mouse analog watch, but in Audemars Piguet form, with a tourbillon and less of an interest in appealing to the mainstream crowd. Audemars Piguet prefers to position their timepieces as collectible art pieces rather than commoditized timekeeping, so it makes sense to collaborate with creators and artists like this.
Apparently, KAWS has also been commissioned to create an 11-meter-tall COMPANION sculpture for Audemars Piguet’s watchmaking factory in Le Brassus. This means that the small work on the watch will have a real-life analogue at the brand’s Swiss headquarters. Pretty cool, I guess. Many street artists come from humble beginnings (i.e., some of their outdoor “installations” may not have been entirely legal at the time of their placement), but over time they rise to fame and eventually become nouveau riche, eager to invest in modern art rather than classic art that has nothing to do with their lives. KAWS is no newbie to success, to that point, but it must be cool when a company like Audemars Piguet wants to put your intellectual property on the dial of one of their high-end watches, and on their premises.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Companion replica watch sale itself is rather plain in style compared to many of the colorful or wild art watches we’ve seen recently. KAWS opted for a predominantly grey theme, both in matching colours as well as the primary titanium structure of the case. The Royal Oak Concept case in this form is 43mm wide, 17.4mm thick, and water-resistant to 100m. In addition to the KAWS Companion figurine on the dial, the bezel screws/bolts have also been changed to the signature “X” design per KAWS (usually for the eyes). Inside the watch is Audemars Piguet’s in-house Caliber 2979 manual-winding tourbillon movement, running at 3Hz with a 72-hour power reserve. It’s a fairly simple mechanism (albeit one that’s beautifully executed), indicating the hours and minutes, with the seconds ticking via a 60-second tourbillon (which isn’t actually easy to see).
KAWS seems to see the Royal Oak Concept Titanium Companion as the ideal watch he would want to wear. In that respect, the collaboration is a success, as the artist designed the piece to his own tastes – and of course, many of his fans and fans of Audemars Piguet will be equally attracted to the subject.
