Watch Paparazzi

Rapper Offset spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Offset, one-third of hip-hop trio Migos and a rapper with a growing reputation as a genuine watch collector, was recently spotted wearing the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in white ceramic, reference 26579CB — a piece that commands attention well beyond its considerable price tag.

The 26579CB sits at the upper tier of the Royal Oak family. Its 41mm white ceramic case presents an immediate technical challenge: ceramic of this grade requires sintering and machining processes far more labor-intensive than conventional case materials, and achieving the polished-and-brushed finish that defines the Royal Oak's iconic "Jumbo" aesthetic in this medium is a genuine manufacturing feat. The dial is executed in blue Grande Tapisserie — AP's signature raised square hobnail pattern — with silver-toned subdials handling the perpetual calendar's day, date, month, and leap-year displays, plus a moonphase aperture at six o'clock. Power comes from Calibre 5134, a self-winding movement with a 40-hour power reserve, built around a perpetual calendar mechanism that requires no manual correction until 2100.

The perpetual calendar Royal Oak has been part of the collection since 1984, originally developed in collaboration with movement specialist Jaeger-LeCoultre. The ceramic iteration is a more recent evolution, reflecting AP's push to combine high complication with avant-garde materials. Reference 26579CB in this specific white ceramic and blue dial configuration occupies rare territory: a perpetual calendar that wears with the visual immediacy of a sports watch.

Offset has demonstrated consistent taste for high-complication, high-visibility timepieces, and the 26579CB fits that profile precisely. This is not a watch purchased for subtlety — white ceramic against a blue dial is a deliberate statement, and wearing it signals familiarity with the deeper AP catalogue rather than a reach for the most obvious reference.

On the market, the numbers are unambiguous. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 26579CB carries a list price of approximately $135,000, but grey-market values have climbed to the $380,000 range — a premium of nearly three times retail that reflects both AP's deliberately constrained production and the sustained collector demand for ceramic Royal Oak complications.