Not everyone will love the Travis Scott x Audemars Piguet collaboration watch released last week, but for good reason. As it turns out, the “chocolate AP” Cactus Jack rapped about in his latest album wasn’t just a rhyme: it was a teaser.
The ingrained values of Swiss watchmaking — iterative improvement, enduring value, traditional manufacturing — are almost perfectly at odds with the current state of contemporary culture; the latter whipping forward at warp speed with eyes only for tomorrow (never yesterday). This tension can sometimes mean the watch industry is out of rhythm with the world of fashion and music, enforcing a comparatively antiquated approach when it comes to marketing and communications; not to mention some spicy ads that haven’t stood the test of time.
As far as alignment with the zeitgeist, Audemars Piguet has been pushing the hardest out of the high-level luxury watchmakers. Its partnership with Marvel is evidence of the brand’s enthusiasm to exist at the cultural foreground; most recently launching the Royal Oak Concept Spider-Man Tourbillon in a move that left many scratching their heads.
While the recent Rolls-Royce car clock was a step in the right direction, this box-fresh Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Openworked “Cactus Jack” is exactly what the brand should be doing more of.
Far from the almost childishly obvious designs for the MCU, this latest partnership is subtler, more thoughtful with its aesthetic choices, and the kind of watch you wouldn’t know was special unless you were a regular reader of a publication like Boss Hunting (as per Tony Traina, #IYKYK is banned from now on).
Cast in 41mm of chocolate brown ceramic, the Travis Scott x Audemars Piguet is a limited to just 200 pieces worldwide, and arrives with a brilliant openwork dial. Across its surface, there are plenty of nods to Scott’s label Cactus Jack, with a hand-written font used throughout, the dual signature on the day subdial, and an x-for-eyes double moonphase at 6 o’clock.
If you spent more than five seconds looking at it, you’d probably realise who it was designed in partnership with. But it still looks unmistakably like an AP. There’s no need for a figurine filling out the entire dial — large enough to spot through the window of a taxi two lanes away — even if it is hand-sculpted white gold.
The almost lookbook-quality gallery of images produced to showcase the watch is yet another breath of fresh air. Much closer to the cover shoot of a print magazine than the typical renders publications are usually provided with, it’s proof that lifestyle can (and should) be incorporated into the storytelling of a timepiece. Especially when there’s a good story to tell.
“Watchmaking, to me, is the ultimate combo of engineering, fashion, tech and design — a harmony of precision, craftsmanship and perfect timing,” said Travis Scott about the link-up.
“I approached this collaboration similar to sampling or starting a beat, taking inspiration from classics while introducing innovation to push them into the future.”
“I’m beyond amped about the results, a first-ever for the iconic Royal Oak. For it to be my brother Francois’ final project as CEO of AP makes it even more epic – we are sending him out with a Mega fucking epic mic drop.”
With only 200 examples to leave Audemars Piguet’s Le Brassus factory, it’s unlikely more than a couple of examples will make their way to Australia; though that doesn’t mean we can’t cross our fingers. If you are among the lucky few to secure an allocation, expect to pay at least US$$201,000 (AU$304,282).
Check out Scott’s lyrical teaser below.
