Rapper Jay-Z spotted wearing a Audemars Piguet

Jay-Z was recently photographed wearing the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon, reference 26560IO — a watch that sits at the outermost edge of what the Le Brassus manufacture is technically capable of producing. It is not a piece that courts casual admirers.

The ref. 26560IO measures 44mm in grade 5 titanium with a forged carbon caseback, the 'IO' designation pointing to the titanium-and-ceramic combination that gives the watch its deliberately industrial, almost monolithic character. At its heart sits Calibre 2954, a manually wound movement developed entirely in-house, featuring a flying tourbillon at 6 o'clock and a GMT complication managed via a dedicated crown. Power reserve stands at 70 hours. The skeletonised dial architecture is pure Concept-line DNA — bridges, mainspring barrel, and tourbillon cage are all fully exposed, framed by the iconic Royal Oak octagonal bezel with its eight hexagonal screws.

The Royal Oak Concept lineage dates to 2004, when Audemars Piguet introduced the original Concept to signal a departure from traditional dial presentation toward engineering transparency. The GMT Tourbillon variant refined that vision considerably, pairing genuine travel utility with one of watchmaking's most prestigious complications. Reference 26560IO sits in the current Concept generation and has earned a firm position among serious AP collectors who regard it as the range's most coherent expression of manufacture capability.

Jay-Z's relationship with Audemars Piguet runs deep. He has publicly supported the brand for well over a decade and, crucially, his engagement goes beyond lifestyle endorsement — he has been seen with multiple Royal Oak Concept references over the years, suggesting a genuine collector's appetite rather than simply accepting gifted pieces. Wearing the 26560IO in a public setting reinforces that positioning.

At a UK list price of approximately £175,000, the Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon ref. 26560IO is firmly in rarefied territory. On the grey market, demand for Concept-line pieces with flying tourbillons has remained resilient, with authenticated examples typically trading at or above retail, reflecting both the complication's complexity and the relative scarcity of production allocations.