Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Robert Lewandowski spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

On the night Robert Lewandowski claimed the 2020 Best FIFA Footballer of the Year award — a ceremony honouring what many consider the most complete individual season in modern football — the Bayern Munich striker arrived on wrist with one of the most technically accomplished pieces in the entire Audemars Piguet catalogue: the Royal Oak Extra-Thin Tourbillon in stainless steel, reference 26522ST, dressed in a rare and arresting purple tapisserie dial.

The 26522ST is built around Calibre 2924, a manually wound flying tourbillon movement that measures a scarcely believable 3.05mm in thickness. The total case height sits at just 8.8mm — extraordinary for a watch containing a tourbillon complication — housed within the Royal Oak's signature 41mm octagonal stainless steel case with its hand-finished alternating polished and brushed surfaces. The purple tapisserie dial is a departure from the standard petite tapisserie finish, giving the piece an immediacy and depth that photographs dramatically under event lighting.

The Royal Oak Extra-Thin Tourbillon line traces its DNA directly back to Gerald Genta's 1972 original, but the ultra-thin tourbillon variants represent a much more recent chapter — AP's answer to collectors who want genuine mechanical complexity without sacrificing the bracelet watch wearability that made the Royal Oak a cultural monument. In stainless steel, reference 26522ST carries particular weight in the collector community: steel AP complications are traditionally produced in tighter allocations than gold variants, and the combination of the flying tourbillon, integrated bracelet, and a non-standard dial colour like purple places this piece in genuinely rarefied territory.

Lewandowski is a known serious watch collector with a documented affinity for grand complications and high-horology sports watches — a natural alignment with the Royal Oak's own identity as a luxury tool watch elevated to art object. Wearing the 26522ST at the FIFA ceremony rather than a more conventional dress watch speaks to a collector's confidence rather than a stylist's safe choice.

At a UK list price of £104,000, the Royal Oak Extra-Thin Tourbillon ref. 26522ST commands serious money on paper. On the grey market, steel Royal Oak complications with unusual dial configurations have consistently traded at or above retail, and in some cases significantly higher, reflecting the constrained supply that AP intentionally maintains on its most technically ambitious references.