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Rapper Dave spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

UK rapper Dave made a deliberate statement in the music video for his single 'Starlight,' and it wasn't just sonic. On his wrist sat an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 'Rainbow' Openworked reference 15468BC in 18k frosted white gold — a piece whose combination of gem-setting artistry and movement architecture places it among the most complex Royal Oaks in current production.

Introduced in 2019, the Royal Oak 'Rainbow' Openworked 15468BC marked a genuine first for the line: no Royal Oak Openworked had previously been paired with a rainbow bezel. That bezel carries 32 baguette-cut gemstones — rubies, emeralds, and sapphires spanning 12 distinct colour gradations — set in a graduated spectrum that wraps the iconic octagonal case. The 37mm case itself is finished in 18k white gold treated with the frosted hammered texture developed in collaboration with Florentine jeweller Carolina Bucci, a technique that scatters light differently from a conventional polish and gives the metal a raw, almost mineral quality.

Beneath the rhodium-toned openworked dial — which carries rose gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating — beats Calibre 5802, AP's self-winding skeleton movement visible through the skeletonised architecture. The movement offers 40 hours of power reserve and runs at 19,800 vph, its bridges and mainplate hand-finished to the same bevelling and perlage standards applied to all Royal Oak calibres. The tension between haute joaillerie exterior and rigorous mechanical interior is exactly the point.

For collectors, the 15468BC sits at an intersection that is genuinely rare: a certified complications piece that also qualifies as high jewellery. Rainbow bezels across all luxury watchmaking have commanded persistent premiums on the secondary market since the mid-2010s, and AP's version — bolstered by the openworked movement and the frosted gold case — has only reinforced that trajectory. Waitlists at authorised dealers remain effectively closed.

Dave, the Mercury Prize and Grammy-winning rapper behind albums 'Psychodrama' and 'We're All Alone in This Together,' has consistently shown a considered approach to luxury dressing that mirrors the precision of his lyricism. Wearing the Royal Oak Rainbow Openworked 15468BC in a video titled 'Starlight' reads less like product placement and more like a coherent visual argument about light, craft, and value.