Watch Paparazzi

Tennis player Stan Wawrinka spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Stan Wawrinka has never been the kind of athlete who reaches for a watch purely for optics. The Swiss tennis champion — winner of the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and US Open — has built a genuine horological reputation over the years, and his latest sighting confirms that standard: the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in black ceramic, reference 26579CE, photographed on his wrist during a recent public appearance.

The 26579CE is one of Audemars Piguet's most technically ambitious Royal Oak executions. Its case, measuring 41mm, is crafted from black ceramic — a material choice that gives the piece a dramatically stealthy presence while offering superior hardness and resistance to daily wear. Inside runs Calibre 5134, a self-winding movement beating at 19,800 vph with a perpetual calendar complication displaying day, date, month, and leap year, with a moon phase indication accurate to one day's deviation every 125 years. The movement is finished to the exacting standards AP applies across its high-complications range, with Geneva stripes, bevelled bridges, and a 40-hour power reserve.

The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar has been a cornerstone of the line since the 1980s, when AP first grafted a grand complication onto Gérald Genta's revolutionary 1972 integrated-bracelet design. The ceramic iteration of the 26579CE is a relatively modern development in that lineage, occupying a space that appeals to collectors who want technical depth without the precious-metal formality of gold. On the secondary market, black ceramic AP perpetual calendars have attracted strong collector interest precisely because of their visual distinctiveness and relative scarcity compared to steel or gold variants.

Wawrinka's watch tastes have previously included Richard Mille pieces — unsurprising for a player who spent years as a brand ambassador — but sightings like this one demonstrate a palate that extends well into traditional Swiss haute horologie. AP and Wawrinka share a Swiss identity, and the 26579CE is the kind of piece a serious collector reaches for when the occasion demands something quieter but no less significant than a tourbillon.

At a UK list price of £70,000 (approximately $88,000 USD at prevailing rates), the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ref. 26579CE sits at a premium tier within the Royal Oak family. On the grey market, black ceramic complications from AP have historically traded close to or modestly above retail, reflecting steady demand and controlled production volumes — making this a financially coherent as well as aesthetically compelling choice.