Rapper Jay-Z spotted wearing a Audemars Piguet

Jay-Z was recently spotted wearing one of the most technically exotic references Audemars Piguet has ever produced — the Royal Oak Concept in Alacrite-CW1, reference 25980AI, a 150-piece limited edition that represents the Le Brassus manufacture at its most experimental and uncompromising.

The 25980AI is built around a case material that has almost no precedent in mainstream watchmaking. Alacrite-CW1 is a cobalt-chromium-tungsten superalloy originally engineered for high-temperature jet turbine components, prized for its exceptional hardness, corrosion resistance, and dimensional stability under stress. Machining it into the complex, multi-faceted geometry of the Royal Oak Concept case — with its exposed bridges, sapphire exhibition architecture, and signature octagonal bezel — demands tooling and tolerances far beyond conventional watchcase production. The result is a 44mm case that is simultaneously industrial in origin and extraordinarily refined in execution.

Powering the watch is the Calibre 2896, a skeletonized manual-winding movement with a flying tourbillon and a linear power-reserve indicator, both displayed through the open-worked dial. The movement architecture draws heavily on the Royal Oak Concept's original 2002 debut brief — to showcase AP's technical capabilities outside the constraints of traditional finishing norms. Plates and bridges are deliberately left exposed, with surfaces finished in a manner that prioritizes mechanical transparency over decorative convention.

From a collector standpoint, the Royal Oak Concept references occupy a specific and respected niche: they attract buyers who find the classic Royal Oak too conservative but want manufacture credibility that independent avant-garde brands cannot match. The 150-piece production ceiling on the 25980AI makes secondary market appearances genuinely rare. Jay-Z's long-standing affinity for ultra-limited AP references is well documented — this sighting is consistent with a collection that has included multiple Royal Oak perpetual calendars and offshore variants across different eras.

The UK list price was set at £195,000, placing this firmly in the rarefied tier of complication watches that compete with Patek Philippe and Richard Mille for the attention of serious high-net-worth collectors. On the grey market, demand for documented limited Concept references consistently pushes prices above retail, particularly for pieces with celebrity provenance now attached to the record.