Watch Paparazzi

Rapper Drake spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

On a sun-soaked vacation stop, Aubrey 'Drake' Graham was photographed with what may be the single most difficult Audemars Piguet Royal Oak variant to acquire outside of auction: the Mad Paris x 1017 ALYX 9SM custom Royal Oak, limited to just 40 numbered examples worldwide. The rapper held up his phone for the camera, inadvertently giving watch spotters a clean view of the stainless steel integrated bracelet and the watch's unmistakably minimalist dial configuration.

The watch is built on a 41mm stainless steel Royal Oak case — almost certainly derived from the reference 15400ST or its successor 15500ST platform — and then subjected to extensive customization by Mad Paris, the Parisian atelier known for recasing and re-dialing production Audemars Piguet references into bespoke one-off and micro-series pieces. For this collaboration, Mad Paris removed all dial indices and applied a clean brushed silver sunburst dial bearing only the '1017 ALYX 9SM' inscription at the six o'clock position, the AP logo at 12, and a date aperture at 3. The result is a dial that reads as a direct architectural echo of the original 1972 Gérald Genta design — raw, industrial, uncompromising.

Matthew Williams, founder of 1017 ALYX 9SM, has long operated at the intersection of industrial hardware and luxury fashion. His brand's signature buckle aesthetic and love of technical materials translates seamlessly into a Royal Oak collab — both share DNA rooted in functional, bolt-fastened design. Mad Paris served as the horological executor, sourcing donor references and executing the dial and case modifications to collector-grade standards.

For Drake, this watch represents something beyond status signaling. His collection — documented extensively across social media and sites like Watch Paparazzi — spans ice-set Pateks, bespoke Richard Milles, and AP Royal Oaks in every configuration. A 40-piece collaborative Royal Oak occupies a different tier entirely: it is a collector's piece that money alone cannot secure, requiring access, relationships, and timing.

On the secondary market, examples from this collaboration have traded between $150,000 and $200,000 when they surface, reflecting both the Royal Oak's underlying value and the severe scarcity premium attached to any Mad Paris custom work. For context, a standard stainless steel Royal Oak 15500ST retails around $27,800 — the ALYX collaboration commands a multiplier that few production references can match.