Audemars Piguet is rounding off the year with a bang thanks to a new collaboration with the New York artist Kaws. The brand is not one to shy away from adventurous collaborations, and this partnership with the artist is just one in a long—though recent—line of tie-ups. In the recent past, the Swiss haute horlogerie brand has worked with fashion designers like Matthew Williams and Tamara Ralph, pop culture icons like Travis Scott and his record label Cactus Jack, and even with Marvel Entertainment to create a Spider-Man watch.
The latest collaboration expands the brand’s venture into different creative and cultural avenues. Kaws, née Brian Donnelly, brings the Companion, the skull and cross-bone toy character that is his most famous creation, quite literally into the world of Audemars Piguet.
There is, of course, a timepiece: the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon “Companion”, a 250-piece limited edition full titanium model designed in collaboration with Kaws. At the heart of the watch is a miniature model of the Companion toy, also crafted from titanium and with satin-brushed and sandblasted finishes.
In a witty nod to the dissected style that Kaws often creates his toys in, the miniature in the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon “Companion” has, in place of its heart and chest, the tourbillon complication—a smart way of positioning and making the feature visible.
And in order to truly let the Companion character shine, Audemars Piguet developed a new hand-wound movement, the Calibre 2979, that shifts the movements and display of the hour and minutes to the peripheral circumference of the watch.
“As part of this collaboration, we have pushed our limits in terms of watchmaking technology to create a spectacular setting with the character at the centre,” explains research and development director Lucas Raggi in press notes.
What’s pretty cool, though, is that this collaboration doesn’t simply start and end with a product. To mark the entrance of Kaws into the world of fine watchmaking, the artist has set up his massive, 11-metre tall inflated Kaws:Holiday sculpture atop the roof of Audemars Piguet’s Le Brassus headquarters.
Miniature on the wrist and outsized on the roof, the Kaws:Holiday Companion is set to look out over the Vallée de Joux until 20 December.
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And to further commemorate the partnership, Kaws has also created a limited edition, 18-inch tall walnut sculpture titled ‘Time Together’ of the Companion sitting on the AP headquarters. This art piece will exist in an edition of just 100 pieces. Think of it as a—forgive the pun—companion piece to the watch.
