Watch Paparazzi

Tennis player Serena Williams spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Serena Williams has never been a passive watch wearer, and her latest sighting confirms it. The 23-time Grand Slam champion was photographed sporting the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar All Black Ceramic Open Work, reference 26585CE — a watch that demands attention not through flash but through the quiet authority of extreme technical craft.

The 26585CE is built around a 41mm case machined entirely from black ceramic, a material Audemars Piguet has refined over decades to achieve the Royal Oak's iconic octagonal bezel with its eight polished hexagonal screws — a near-miraculous finishing feat in a material this hard and brittle. The open-worked dial exposes the calibre 26586 SQ, a self-winding movement with a perpetual calendar module that correctly accounts for months of varying length and leap years without manual correction until 2100. The skeletonization is executed in a RD#2 style that balances legibility of the perpetual calendar's four instantaneous jumping displays — date, day, month, and moon phase — against the visual drama of the movement architecture beneath. Power reserve sits at approximately 40 hours.

From a collector perspective, the all-ceramic Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar occupies a rare intersection: it carries the full weight of AP's most complex in-house complication, dressed in a sports-luxe material that makes it simultaneously more casual and more exclusive than the steel or gold variants. Ceramic Royal Oaks have historically attracted strong secondary-market premiums, and the perpetual calendar configuration compounds that desirability. References in this family debuted around 2019 and have maintained waiting lists at authorized dealers ever since.

Williams has been documented wearing Audemars Piguet on multiple occasions, and her relationship with the brand aligns naturally with AP's positioning around elite athletic achievement. Choosing the 26585CE rather than a simpler Royal Oak Offshore reflects a collector's eye — this is someone buying movement complexity, not just brand recognition.

At a UK list price of approximately £110,000, translating to roughly $138,000 USD at current rates, the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar ref. 26585CE sits firmly in AP's premium tier. On the grey market, demand for ceramic perpetual calendar Royal Oaks consistently pushes prices above retail, with comparable references trading between $160,000 and $185,000 depending on condition and documentation.