Watch Paparazzi

Boxer Anthony Joshua spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Anthony Joshua was photographed wearing a striking Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT during a pre-fight media appearance, the kind of high-visibility setting where watch choices rarely go unnoticed. The piece on his wrist — reference 26589IO — is one of the most technically ambitious watches in the Royal Oak Concept family, a line AP reserves for its most avant-garde complications.

The 26589IO is built around Audemars Piguet's Calibre 2954, a manually wound movement featuring a flying tourbillon positioned at 6 o'clock that acts simultaneously as a seconds display. The GMT function is read via a dedicated 24-hour hand, while the skeletonized dial architecture exposes the gear train in a way that feels deliberately confrontational — this is haute horlogerie that refuses to be subtle. The case measures 44mm in grade 5 titanium, offering impressive lightness relative to its visual mass. The blue rubber strap completes a colour language already established by the electric blue tones running through the movement bridges and dial details.

The Royal Oak Concept line launched in 2002 as AP's laboratory for experimental design, deliberately freed from the geometric constraints of the original Gerald Genta-designed Royal Oak. The Flying Tourbillon GMT variant represents that philosophy at its most resolved — it combines a dressy complication with materials and construction more at home in aerospace engineering than traditional watchmaking. Among collectors, Concept references consistently attract serious attention precisely because production volumes are tightly controlled and the movement finishing meets the same standards as AP's more conventional grand complications.

Joshua has built a reputation as a genuine watch enthusiast rather than a passive brand ambassador, and the choice of this particular reference — a technically complex, non-commissioned piece rather than a standard sports model — reinforces that credibility. A heavyweight champion comfortable in front of cameras wearing a flying tourbillon before a title fight is a very specific kind of statement.

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT ref. 26589IO carries a UK list price of approximately £148,400, which converts to roughly $185,000 USD at current rates. On the secondary market, strong demand for Royal Oak Concept references has kept grey-market values close to or above retail, reflecting both scarcity and sustained collector appetite for AP's most complex titanium offerings.