Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Shkodran Mustafi spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Shkodran Mustafi, the German-Albanian centre-back who recently joined Spanish side Levante UD, was photographed wearing an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-Winding Perpetual Calendar RD2, reference 26586IP — one of the most technically singular watches the Le Brassus manufacture has ever produced. The sighting places Mustafi firmly in a very small circle of collectors who own this particular reference.

The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar RD2 debuted in 2018 as a landmark horological achievement. The designation RD2 stands for Research & Development No. 2, signaling its status as a skunkworks-level project within AP. Calibre 2955, the movement beating inside the 26586IP, measures a staggering 2.89mm in height — at introduction, the thinnest self-winding perpetual calendar movement ever made. The complete watch comes in at just 6.3mm total thickness, housed in a 41mm case combining grade 5 titanium with black ceramic inserts on the octagonal bezel. The dial renders the perpetual calendar display — date, day, month, moon phase, and leap year indication — with characteristic Royal Oak integration, everything reading cleanly without the visual congestion that plagues lesser perpetual calendars.

From a collector's standpoint, the 26586IP occupies a genuinely elite position. Perpetual calendars at this level of mechanical compression are extraordinarily difficult to manufacture; the tolerances involved in stacking a self-winding rotor system atop a perpetual calendar module at under 3mm demand industrial precision that few manufactures can claim. Production numbers remain extremely limited, and the piece commands a significant grey-market premium — currently trading around $250,000 USD against a list price of approximately $150,000 — a spread that reflects both genuine scarcity and sustained collector demand.

Mustafi's watch culture is no accident. The former Arsenal and Valencia defender has demonstrated consistent taste for high-complication timepieces, and the RD2 is not a vanity purchase — it requires knowledge to seek out and commitment to acquire. Choosing a record-setting ultra-thin perpetual calendar rather than a more obvious Royal Oak Offshore or standard Royal Oak Chronograph says something deliberate about where his collecting instincts sit.

On the secondary market, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar RD2 ref. 26586IP holds its premium with unusual stability, supported by its technical pedigree and the enduring commercial strength of the Royal Oak family. For collectors watching the grey market, this reference has shown no meaningful softening — a reflection of how few examples circulate and how high the barrier to acquisition remains.