Watch Paparazzi

Rapper Pras Michel spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Pras Michel, the rapper and record producer best known as a founding member of the Fugees, was photographed wearing the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon in titanium on his birthday — a low-key flex that speaks to a genuine affinity for high-complication watchmaking rather than logo chasing.

The reference 26560IO sits at the apex of the Royal Oak Concept collection, a line Audemars Piguet established to showcase movements that would be technically or commercially impractical within the mainstream Royal Oak family. The 44mm titanium case — lightweight, scratch-resistant, and immediately recognizable by its matte grey finish — houses calibre 2954, a manually wound movement delivering a flying tourbillon at six o'clock and a GMT function via a 24-hour disc. Power reserve stands at 65 hours. The open-worked dial architecture exposes the movement's topology in full, framed by the iconic AP octagonal bezel with eight hexagonal screws.

Within the Royal Oak Concept family, the GMT Tourbillon occupies a collector-significant position. The Concept line has historically been a sandbox for ideas later filtered down into production references, but the 26560IO is remarkable for combining two genuinely useful complications — world-time tracking and a tourbillon — rather than deploying either as pure decoration. The titanium variant specifically offers a wearability that the more dramatic forged carbon and ceramic versions sacrifice. For serious collectors, the 'IO' suffix in the reference denotes the specific dial and case material combination, a detail worth knowing at resale.

Pras Michel has maintained a consistent presence in high-end watch culture throughout his career. His choice of the 26560IO over more commercially visible AP references — the perpetual Offshore, for instance — suggests a collector sensibility oriented toward movement complexity over brand signaling. Wearing it on a birthday further underlines the personal significance attached to the piece.

At UK list price of approximately £165,500 — translating to roughly $207,000 USD at current rates — the Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon ref. 26560IO occupies rarefied territory even within Audemars Piguet's own catalogue. Grey market premiums on tourbillon Concept references have historically remained modest relative to stainless steel Royal Oak Sports models, meaning buyers actually find these closer to retail than a basic 15202ST. That relative accessibility, combined with the movement's technical ambition, keeps this reference on the shortlist for serious AP collectors.