Comedian Kevin Hart spotted wearing a Audemars Piguet

Kevin Hart touched down in Vancouver for a sold-out stand-up date, and sharp-eyed fans in the front rows caught a glimpse of what was riding on his wrist: an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Openworked Tourbillon in stainless steel, reference 26735ST — one of the crown jewels of the Royal Oak's 50th anniversary collection launched in 2022.

The ref. 26735ST houses Calibre 2954, a hand-wound skeletonized tourbillon movement beating at 21,600 vph and offering a 70-hour power reserve. Every bridge and plate has been openworked and chamfered by hand, a process that demands far more time than producing a traditional solid movement. The 41mm stainless steel case retains the Royal Oak's signature brushed and polished alternating surfaces, and the integrated bracelet — itself a feat of finishing — mirrors the architectural language Gérald Genta sketched on a napkin in 1971. The sapphire caseback offers an equally spectacular view of the movement architecture.

From a collector standpoint, the stainless steel configuration of the 26735ST occupies a peculiar and enviable position. Audemars Piguet produced it in extremely limited numbers alongside precious metal variants, yet the steel ref. consistently commands higher premiums on the secondary market — a dynamic that mirrors the original Royal Oak's own story, where the audacity of pricing a steel sports watch at luxury-tier levels ultimately created one of horology's most enduring collector narratives. The 50th anniversary context adds a further layer of historical weight that AP will not easily replicate.

Hart has built a watch collection that reflects genuine horological curiosity rather than pure status signaling. The Royal Oak Openworked Tourbillon is not a watch you buy because it reads clearly across a room — the skeletonized dial rewards close inspection and requires the wearer to actually understand what they are looking at. Wearing it to a live show, under stage lighting, suggests Hart is comfortable with a piece this technically sophisticated.

At launch, the ref. 26735ST carried a list price of approximately $240,000 USD. On today's grey market, strong demand from both AP loyalists and 50th anniversary completionists has pushed the trading value toward $675,000 — nearly three times retail — placing it firmly in the category of watches that function simultaneously as wearable art and appreciating hard assets.