Wrist COMPANION: The New Audemars Piguet x KAWS Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Has a Novel Peripheral Time Display

The newly launched 43 mm Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon (Ref.  26656TI.GG.D019VE.01) from Audemars Piguet (AP) has been designed in collaboration with American artist and designer Brian Donnelly, professionally known as KAWS. The futuristic design of this limited edition of 250 pieces highlights a miniature COMPANION at the heart of each watch. As Donnelly fans would know, COMPANIONS are a set of characters created by the artist, drawing inspiration from Disney’s Mickey Mouse. Needless to say, the latest AP collab piece demonstrates the Maison’s ability to combine haute horlogerie with cultural relevance. 

Brian Donnelly (born 1974) studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Prior to his breakthrough as an artist, he worked as a backdrop painter on animated series, such as Disney's 101 Dalmatians and the cult show Daria and Doug. From a young age, Donnelly was known for writing 'KAWS' on buildings in New Jersey and Manhattan, a tag he chose because he loved how the letters looked together. The Way I See It: Selections from the KAWS Collection includes over 350 artworks selected by KAWS from his extensive personal collection of over 3,000 works on paper, created by around 500 artists. The Way I See It displays drawings that provide an uncommon view of Donnelly’s artistic inspirations and interests; it features a vast spectrum of artists from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and broadens the definition of drawing to encompass comics, commercial graphics, and graffiti sketches. 

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For this particular collaboration, Audemars Piguet and KAWS have selected the edgiest of the brand’s creations — the Royal Oak Concept. The 43 mm Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon ‘COMPANION’ features the ‘KAWS look’ on both sides of the timepiece and on a black ceramic crown, topped with a titanium chip. As a nod to the artist's early ‘ad intervention’ work, KAWS' COMPANION appears beneath the watch's sapphire crystal, its face and hands, presumably touching the inner surface of the glass and gazing out to see what is beyond. This small 3D character in contrasting light and dark greys is entirely made of titanium, and is placed on a titanium dial plate with a sunburst design. The alternating satin-brushed and sandblasted treatments offer texture and depth while emphasising the rounded form. The COMPANION’s skull-shaped head, X-shaped eyes, gloves, and crossbones make it easily identifiable. The cut-out X eyes are filled with grey lacquer. Finally, similar to KAWS' dissected series, the COMPANION's chest shows the watch's tourbillon, blurring the distinction between character and movement.

Audemars Piguet's use of a peripheral time display allows for an unobstructed view of the small COMPANION on the dial side, opening up new aesthetic possibilities for movement and dial design. The hour and minute hands rotate around the movement and the dial using two exposed gear wheels with pinions and rollers. The titanium hour and minute hands, filled with a luminescent material that turns blue in the dark, are mounted on their respective peripheral wheels. The minute hand is openworked to separate it from the hour hand and make it easier to read time. The titanium inner bezel features five-minute graduations that glow blue in low light.

Both the bezel and the caseback have been secured to the case middle with eight hexagonal screws, subtly marked with KAWS’ trademark X. This motif is also engraved on the satin-brushed frame of the sapphire caseback, alongside KAWS’ signature and the words, ‘Limited Edition of 250 pieces’. Powering the watch is a new hand-wound peripheral hour and minute movement, Calibre 2979, which gives pride of place to the tourbillon on the dial side at 6 o’clock and offers a 72-hour power reserve. The balance wheel and escapement are housed in a tiny rotating cage that completes a revolution every minute to prevent their centre of gravity from staying in the same orientation. 

The sapphire caseback showcases the movement’s black-PVD titanium front and back views of Calibre 2979. The gear train bridge opens on to the ratchet wheel, which arms the barrel-arbour when the watch is wound and which has been crossed out to reproduce KAWS’ emblematic X. The click that prevents it from turning in the unwinding direction is also visible at 12 o’clock. The bridges’ blackened aesthetic is contrasted by the mention of ‘Swiss’, ‘39 jewels’ and the ‘Audemars Piguet’ signature, all engraved by laser and filled with white lacquer. 

The play of textures and light continues on the dark grey calfskin leather strap. The interchangeable system, integrated directly into the case, and the triple-blade folding clasp allow the wearer to change styles with a quick click and release. The watch comes with a second strap in slate grey calfskin leather, also decorated with a textile pattern to enhance its contrasting grey tones. To turn the spotlight on the cartoon-like COMPANION, the Manufacture has practically placed time to one side by employing a novel peripheral time display. Thus, this collaboration is provocative, funny, and inquisitive, challenging viewers to reconsider haute horlogerie and the ability of imagination to push boundaries.