Audemars Piguet.
Two years after establishing a highly stylised synergy with Tamara Ralph during Paris Haute Couture Week, Audemars Piguet is leaning further into contemporary cultural currency by bridging the worlds of high horology and progressive streetwear. For its newest limited-edition release, the Le Brassus manufacture has joined forces with Tokyo’s most influential creative power couple, Yoon Ahn and Verbal of AMBUSH, reimagining the Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon as a compact, architectural object charged with the visual language of music, fashion and industrial design.
Unveiled as a limited edition of 150 pieces during an intimate launch event in Tokyo, the new 38.5mm Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon pushes the collection into far sleeker territory. The Concept line built its reputation on oversized, almost muscular proportions, but Audemars Piguet has gradually been refining the silhouette into something more compact and wearable without losing its futuristic bite. That evolution continues here. The watch still carries the angular, industrial geometry that has defined the Royal Oak Concept since 2002, although AMBUSH’s influence strips away some of the visual heaviness, giving the architecture a cleaner, sharper tension.
“Audemars Piguet is built on collective energy. Working with Yoon and Verbal offers a fresh lens on the Royal Oak Concept’s intricate architecture,” says Ilaria Resta, Chief Executive Officer at Audemars Piguet. “Their purposeful emphasis on the tourbillon and the movement’s core elements brings the mechanics of time to the fore, reflecting our shared vision to return to the essential.”
Audemars Piguet.
Over the last decade, the brand has increasingly stepped outside the confines of traditional horology, partnering with figures like Travis Scott, Jay-Z and John Mayer, while treating the Royal Oak Concept line as a laboratory for experimentation. The collection itself first launched in 2002 to celebrate the Royal Oak’s 30th anniversary, introducing futuristic materials inspired by aerospace engineering and concept cars. Since then, it has evolved into the manufacture’s playground for testing new ideas across complications, materials and collaborations.
“Creativity is always in motion. You keep evolving, regenerating, moving forward, so the design of this limited edition had to follow that energy,” says Ahn. “For me, it was about balance, about creating something truly universal that anyone could connect with.”
Crafted from titanium with black ceramic detailing, the case alternates between sandblasted, satin-brushed and polished surfaces, creating the sort of shifting industrial texture that has long defined both AMBUSH jewellery and the Royal Oak lineage. Unlike the hyper-complicated maximalism currently dominating parts of the luxury watch market, this collaboration focuses on reduction. There is very little visual clutter. Everything directs the eye toward the exposed flying tourbillon at six o’clock.
That detail quickly becomes the emotional core of the watch. Executed in anodised red aluminium, the tourbillon cage introduces a vivid pulse of colour against the shimmering black aventurine dial. Audemars Piguet confirms it is the first time the Manufacture has used this red anodised top plate treatment on a flying tourbillon, transforming a traditionally classical complication into something unexpectedly graphic.
Audemars Piguet.
Verbal connects the colour choice to “the Earth’s core” and the idea of time originating from energy itself, which sounds suitably philosophical coming from someone whose career has moved between music production, fashion and street culture. “Red has always been a powerful colour for us, while the tourbillon cage represents the heart of the watch – the force that keeps everything in motion,” he explains.
The open-worked architecture surrounding the movement only amplifies that feeling. Black aventurine creates a galaxy-like backdrop, while mirror-polished bevels frame the movement’s exposed mechanics almost like an installation piece. Audemars Piguet’s in-house Calibre 2982 sits underneath, a hand-wound movement developed exclusively for this release. Built on the foundations of the earlier Calibre 2964, it exposes the gear train and barrel construction with almost confrontational transparency, foregrounding the technical artistry rather than hiding it behind decorative excess.
Audemars Piguet.
Audemars Piguet.
Even the straps carry that sense of dual identity. The watch arrives with interchangeable black and red rubber straps embossed with a micro-mosaic pattern and quilted interior texture, balancing sport functionality with something closer to fashion accessory detailing. A grey variation is also available on request. Technically, the piece remains serious horology. The hand-wound movement contains 212 components, runs at 3Hz and delivers a 72-hour power reserve, all housed inside an 11.4mm titanium case water-resistant to 20 metres.
The Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon x AMBUSH retails exclusively through Audemars Piguet’s global network of boutiques, packaged with both rubber strap variations. Discover more here.
photography. courtesy of Audemars Piguet
words. Gennaro Costanzo
