For more than two decades, the Royal Oak Concept has existed as Audemars Piguet’s laboratory for experimentation — a space where the Swiss manufacture tests not only new materials and complications, but new cultural dialogues. Since its launch in 2002 to celebrate the Royal Oak’s 30th anniversary, the collection has consistently challenged the boundaries of traditional Haute Horlogerie, bringing futuristic aesthetics into a world historically rooted in heritage.
Now, Audemars Piguet adds another chapter to that evolving legacy with a new Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon imagined alongside Yoon Ahn and Verbal, the Tokyo-based creative duo behind AMBUSH. The result is not simply another celebrity collaboration or fashion crossover. Instead, it feels like a carefully distilled conversation between disciplines — between architecture and emotion, mechanics and minimalism, movement and identity.
Limited to 150 pieces, the 38.5 mm titanium watch arrives with a strikingly restrained visual language. Its black aventurine dial glimmers like a night sky, interrupted only by the vivid red flying tourbillon positioned at six o’clock. The watch feels futuristic yet intimate, technical yet emotional, balancing the industrial codes of the Royal Oak Concept with the visual clarity often associated with Japanese design philosophy.
At the centre of the project is the idea of returning to what matters. Instead of overwhelming the watch with decorative excess, the collaboration strips the design back to its essentials, allowing the movement itself to become the focal point. The partly openworked architecture reveals the mechanics underneath, exposing the energy flow of the hand-wound Calibre 2982. The red tourbillon becomes both the literal and symbolic heart of the piece.
“Creativity is always in motion. You keep evolving, regenerating, moving forward, so the design of this limited edition had to follow that energy. For me, it was about balance, about creating something truly universal that anyone could connect with,” said Yoon Ahn.
That philosophy runs throughout the entire watch. The titanium case combines sandblasted, satin-brushed, and polished surfaces that shift subtly under light, while the ergonomic curvature softens the Royal Oak Concept’s typically aggressive geometry. Even the interchangeable strap system reinforces the idea of adaptability, with both black and red rubber straps allowing the piece to oscillate between understated elegance and sharper visual contrast.
The collaboration also marks an important moment for Audemars Piguet’s relationship with contemporary culture. Over the years, the manufacture has continuously positioned itself beyond traditional luxury, choosing instead to engage with creatives who move fluidly between worlds. Yoon and Verbal embody that multidimensional spirit. Through AMBUSH, they have spent years dissolving the barriers between high fashion, music, street culture, jewellery, and art. Their influence has never relied on trend cycles alone, but on building visual languages that resonate globally while remaining deeply personal.
For Verbal, the collaboration carries an even deeper connection. The original Royal Oak Concept, launched in 2002, holds particular emotional significance for him as a collector, symbolising what he describes as defining moments in watchmaking. That emotional attachment becomes visible in the new piece’s treatment of the flying tourbillon, which is anodised in red for the very first time in Audemars Piguet’s history.
“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. Red evokes the Earth’s core: the origin point, the source of energy and, ultimately, the beginning of how we measure time itself,” Verbal explained.
Technically, the watch remains deeply rooted in Audemars Piguet’s watchmaking expertise. Calibre 2982 builds on the Manufacture’s hand-wound flying tourbillon movement while preserving the architectural openness that defines the Royal Oak Concept line. The flying tourbillon itself counteracts the effects of gravity on precision by housing the balance wheel and escapement inside a rotating cage that completes one revolution every minute. In this watch, the mechanism is supported only from below, allowing the movement to appear suspended in space.
Yet despite its complexity, the watch never feels overly technical. Instead, there is a deliberate calmness to its presentation. The black aventurine surface absorbs light like a void, while polished silver-grey bevels frame the movement beneath. The visual rhythm created by exposed gears, bridges, and architectural layering gives the impression of controlled energy rather than mechanical spectacle. It is this balance that ultimately defines the collaboration.
“Audemars Piguet is built on collective energy. Working with Yoon and Verbal offers a fresh lens on the Royal Oak Concept’s intricate architecture. 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,” said Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta.
In many ways, this release reflects the larger evolution happening within luxury today. Increasingly, the most relevant collaborations are no longer driven by logo placement or surface-level hype. Instead, they are shaped by genuine exchanges between disciplines and by creators who understand how objects can communicate identity, emotion, and cultural movement simultaneously.
The Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon succeeds precisely because it avoids becoming loud. Rather than chasing spectacle, it embraces intention. The exposed movement, the restrained palette, the singular red core, and the compact proportions all work together to create something deeply focused — a watch that feels less like an accessory and more like an idea in motion.
More than twenty years after the Royal Oak Concept first disrupted the codes of Swiss watchmaking, this latest chapter proves the collection still functions as Audemars Piguet’s most daring creative platform. Only now, its experimentation is no longer limited to materials or mechanics alone. It extends into culture itself.
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