Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Virgil Van Dijk spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Virgil Van Dijk was recently caught courtside — or rather pitchside — wearing one of the most talked-about limited-edition watches of the past decade while watching the Dutch national team in action. On his wrist sat the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept 'Black Panther' Flying Tourbillon, reference 26620IO, a piece that stops rooms regardless of whether the crowd knows horology or not.

Launched in 2021 as part of a collaboration between Audemars Piguet and Marvel, the Royal Oak Concept ref. 26620IO is built around a 42mm forged carbon case with a titanium caseback, water-resistant to 20 metres. The movement is the calibre 2965, a manually wound flying tourbillon beating at 21,600 vph with a 72-hour power reserve. Its signature feature is the three-dimensional Black Panther figure — crafted from grade 5 titanium with a black PVD treatment — which forms the tourbillon bridge itself, crouching over the movement at 6 o'clock. The dial is open-worked, revealing the full mechanical architecture beneath applied luminescent indexes.

Limited to exactly 250 pieces worldwide, the 26620IO is the kind of allocation watch that AP's most loyal clients had to campaign for. It occupies an interesting space in the Royal Oak Concept lineage — a sub-family that has historically been AP's sandbox for experimental case architecture and avant-garde complications — while adding a pop-culture layer that broadened its appeal significantly beyond traditional collector circles. That limited production figure, combined with the IP collaboration and the complication quality, made secondary market activity intense from day one.

Van Dijk has established himself as one of European football's most credible watch enthusiasts, with a collection that consistently skews toward technically serious, visually bold references. Wearing the Black Panther Concept during an international fixture is a pointed choice — the watch is impossible to miss and communicates exactly the right level of confidence without requiring explanation.

At a retail price of approximately $170,000, the 26620IO was already a significant investment. On the grey market, sold-out immediately upon release, prices climbed well above list and have maintained strong premiums, reflecting both the limited supply and continued demand from collectors who missed allocation. For a 250-piece run of this profile, that trajectory is unlikely to reverse.