The Good, Bad and Ugly, The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Black Panther Tourbillon Concept

Possibility one of the most controversial watches released during Watches and Wonders 2021 was the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Black Panther Concept Tourbillon. Audemars Piguet had been hinting at a collaboration with Marvel for some time and finally it was unveiled that their collaboration featured the infamous Black Panther character.

This limited edition to 250 pieces concept watch is certainly striking in its design. The 42mm titanium-cased watch has a striking resemblance to the other concept watch Audemars Piguet has released. The watch has a dark grey and purple colour motif to it, which are the colours most associated to the Blank Panther character that come out in the dark grey brushed case and purple rubber strap. It is pretty difficult not to see the huge white gold 3D Black Panther figure that sits on the dial of this watch. Incredibly engineered and finished, it takes up the majority of the dial and makes a huge statement for this watch. At 6 o’clock is a beautiful flying tourbillon, part of the in-house hand-wound Calibre 2965 that is the beating heart of this watch.

Really interestingly at the launch of this watch, Audemars Piguet auctioned off a unique white-gold version of this watch. The watch fetched a whopping $5.2 million which was all donated to underprivileged youth. At the launch of this watch, there was a lot of controversy that spread among watch enthusiasts especially on social media. Many did not understand why Audemars Piguet would partner with Marvel in the first place. Many felt that Audemars Piguet symbolize the epitome of classical, serious watchmaking and partnering with a comic book company felt like a strange right turn. Others felt that comic book characters do not have a place in watchmaking. While opinions like these are valid, there are a few things we should remember.

Firstly, Audemars Piguet created a limited edition watch with the ultimate goal of selling the 250 pieces they created. This collaboration will most definitely create a unique and collectable watch that will obviously capture the attention of Royal Oak collectors and Marvel fans alike. Second, this is not the first time watchmaking has taken fictional characters and blended them with watchmaking. Just remember Mickey Mouse watches and Snoopy Speedmasters - these are watches that enthusiasts love. Yes, on these watches the fictional characters might have been more subtled added to these watches. But hey, this is Audemars Piguet’s design decision and there is no doubt that these will sell extremely quickly.

Enjoy!