AP x Travis Scott
The luxury watch world welcomes a new limited edition collaboration between Travis Scott and Audemars Piguet. The partnership has resulted in a remarkable creation: a first-of-its-kind brown ceramic Royal Oak perpetual calendar openworked.
The Facts
Before sharing my thoughts on the piece, let's first examine the collaboration's details and context. This is the inaugural collaboration between AP and Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack. The outcome of this partnership extends beyond the brown ceramic Royal Oak; it includes a range of accessories and clothing items. If you're interested in exploring these, here is a link for more information.
Merging Cactus Jack’s brand identity with AP's horological expertise, the watch features a unique brown ceramic case and a striking red seconds hand. The watch features a brown ceramic case, aligned with Cactus Jack’s brand identity. The red seconds hand adds a splash of color, highlighting custom elements like the unique typography of the calendar and week indications. AP notes that this typography was inspired by an early drawing of the piece by Travis Scott himself.
Another standout feature is the moon phase indicator, showcasing Cactus Jack's iconic smiley face in place of the traditional moon. This moon phase features a luminescent cover that turns blue in the dark, while the remaining luminescent elements on the watch turn green.
The piece is completed with a textured brown calfskin strap and a new rose gold folding clasp, engraved with AP’s and Travis Scott’s signatures.
The watch is powered by AP’s Caliber 5135, the same mechanism used in the black ceramic perpetual calendar open-worked. Limited to 200 pieces, it retails at $201,000. Travis Scott received a unique piece featuring a rainbow bezel.
My Opinion
Firstly, congratulations to both AP and Travis Scott on creating this exceptional piece. However, I have mixed feelings about this collaboration. While the watch certainly looks 'cool', it doesn't evoke the classic elegance of regular Royal Oaks or the sportiness of the OffShore line. Thinking about the time spent on the creation of this piece, I am sure both parties wanted to create a piece that looked like this.
We could also argue that is a wonderful piece that connects the culture of hiphop and Travis Scott with the horological mastery of an open-worked perpetual calendar. AP has a history with music and artists; they had collaborations with various artists before, including Jay-Z, and how could we forget the music piece they brought out with the offshore collection?
Yet, I question AP's current direction. While this watch will undoubtedly attract new, younger enthusiasts to the watch world, I wonder about the impact on AP's brand identity. Fresh off their Aiguille d’Or win at the Grand Prix D'Horlogerie De Genève – a testament to their horological excellence or as Forbes explains it the grand prize in the Oscars of watchmaking– AP's rapid succession of collaborations raises questions. That piece will get its own blog page so keep in touch. A few months before that they did a collaboration with ALYX ( I covered it in a previous blog if you are interested). By alternating between high-end horological masterpieces and trendy collaborations, AP risks diluting its brand identity.
I love AP, they are my go to brand and the first recomendation to most of my clients, but I think they have to calm down. I think the proximity of both collaborations does not help their identity, as one of the holy trinity. I am all for collaborations, when they are done right, but if you do a lott of them, after a while either the collaborations loose their value or your masterpieces do. Either way, your brand identity is damaged because people don’t know what your brand stands for: is it horological masterclass or cool collaborations.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with either but you can’t have the public see you as both, it just doesn’t work. I would have prefered AP to relaese the Chocolate Royal Oak maybe next year, if that were the case I wouldn’t think like this. But they didn’t. I, however, think there is a reasonable explanation for the move: the depature of the soon to be ex-CEO of AP Francois Bennahmias. Mr. Bennahmias loves his collaborations and this is probably going to be his last one at AP, so it is a departing gift.
Despite the reasons, the frequency and proximity of these collaborations might not be serving AP's brand identity well. The new CEO will have to navigate these waters carefully to maintain the brand's esteemed reputation.
While I may seem critical of AP's recent decisions, my admiration for the watch and the collaboration remains. It's a significant addition to the watch world, albeit with potential implications for AP's brand image. Moreover, we started seeing the piece on the second market with a price of $500,000. With that price for that piece, I can confidently tell you that if that is the case you won’t be seeing the Chocolate Royal Oak on Jewelss.co as an investment piece.
