Watch Paparazzi

Rapper Dave spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

At the Royal Albert Hall premiere of No Time To Die in London, UK rapper and Mercury Prize winner Dave arrived in a navy tuxedo with a watch on his wrist that quietly eclipsed almost everything else on the red carpet. Beneath his left cuff sat one of the most technically complex pieces Audemars Piguet has produced under the Royal Oak Offshore nameplate — a titanium Flying Tourbillon Flyback Chronograph limited to just 100 examples worldwide.

The reference 26421TI.OO.A027CA.01 is built around Calibre 2897, a manually-wound manufacture movement that combines three haute horlogerie complications in a single architecture: a flying tourbillon positioned at six o'clock, a column-wheel-controlled flyback chronograph, and a skeletonised construction that strips the movement back to its structural essentials. The bridges, mainplate, and gear train are fully visible through the open-worked dial, framed by AP's signature mega tapisserie pattern on the chapter ring. Case diameter sits at 44mm in grade 5 titanium, keeping the piece notably light despite its visual mass. The black rubber strap with titanium deployant clasp completes an integrated, technically coherent package.

From a collector standpoint, the Flying Tourbillon Flyback Chronograph occupies a rarefied position even within AP's own catalogue. The flying tourbillon — which lacks an upper bridge over the carriage, creating the optical illusion of the regulator floating in mid-air — is a detail that separates serious watchmaking from decorative complications. Combined with a flyback mechanism that resets and restarts the chronograph with a single pusher depression, this is a watch built for those who understand what they're wearing. The 100-piece limitation means secondary market supply is essentially static.

Dave, born David Orobosa Omoregie, is one of the UK's most critically acclaimed MCs, with a catalogue that deals in social commentary and technical lyricism. His attendance at a Bond premiere in such a deliberately chosen timepiece — not a simple Royal Oak, but a fully skeletonised grand complication — suggests a considered collector sensibility rather than borrowed or gifted jewellery.

At an official list price of approximately £190,000 ($258,000), this AP is not a casual acquisition. On the grey market, where the piece almost never surfaces, valuations reflect extreme scarcity rather than speculative flipping — this is the kind of watch that disappears into collections and rarely re-emerges.