Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Robert Lewandowski spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Robert Lewandowski collected the Globe Soccer Awards Player of the Year trophy — beating Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the process — with the Audemars Piguet [Re]Master01 reference 26595SR on his wrist. The steel and rose gold combination made for a composed, understated choice at a high-profile ceremony, and it was entirely in keeping with the intellectual weight of the watch itself.

The [Re]Master01 is Audemars Piguet's most explicit exercise in archival revival. The reference 26595SR draws direct inspiration from the manufacture's calibre 1533 pocket-watch movement, which AP adapted for the wrist in the 1940s in extraordinarily limited numbers. During the entire first half of the twentieth century, the Le Brassus manufacture produced only 307 wristwatch chronographs in total — context that makes any surviving vintage example of the 1533 family a serious collector object. The modern reinterpretation houses a hand-wound column-wheel chronograph movement, the calibre 2953, finished to current manufacture standards while deliberately echoing the architecture of its ancestor. The case pairs stainless steel with rose gold accents, the dial retains the pulsometer scale and subsidiary registers characteristic of the original, and the presentation sits at 40mm — generous for a dress chronograph but restrained for contemporary standards.

For collectors, the [Re]Master01 occupies a specific and credible niche. It is not a Royal Oak derivative — it belongs to the quieter, more scholarly strand of Audemars Piguet's catalogue, the one that rewards those who have done the archival research. The calibre 1533's scarcity in vintage form means the [Re]Master01 fills a genuine gap: it makes the design language of one of AP's rarest complications accessible without pretending to be something it is not. Production numbers are deliberately limited, which sustains collector interest without manufactured urgency.

Lewandowski has long demonstrated a preference for technically substantive watches rather than conspicuous status pieces. Choosing the [Re]Master01 for an awards night rather than a more recognisable Royal Oak or Royal Oak Offshore reads as a considered statement — someone familiar enough with the brand to reach past the obvious.

The Audemars Piguet [Re]Master01 reference 26595SR carries an official retail price in the region of $52,000 USD. On the secondary market, demand for the mixed-metal configuration has kept grey prices broadly in line with or slightly above retail, reflecting the limited production run and the watch's standing among buyers who follow AP's broader catalogue.