Footballer Robert Lewandowski spotted wearing a Audemars Piguet

Robert Lewandowski stepped onto the FIFA Best Men's Player stage for the second consecutive year wearing a watch that matched the gravitas of the occasion: the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in black ceramic, reference 26579CE. It was a quietly authoritative choice — a piece that rewards those who look closely far more than it announces itself to a room.

Introduced at SIHH 2017, the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar ref. 26579CE broke new ground for Audemars Piguet as the first timepiece the Le Brassus manufacture had ever constructed entirely in ceramic, from the 41 mm case to every individual bracelet link. The material is zirconium oxide ceramic, fired and then subjected to an extraordinarily labor-intensive finishing process. Each integrated bracelet link demands alternating polished and satin surfaces — the same visual grammar Gerald Genta wrote in stainless steel back in 1972 — but ceramic's extreme hardness makes achieving those transitions exponentially more difficult than with metal. The case houses caliber 5134, AP's own ultra-thin self-winding perpetual calendar movement running at 19,800 vph with an approximate 40-hour power reserve. The movement displays day, date, month, moon phase, and leap-year cycle, all correctable via the crown alone — no pushers, no risk of damage mid-cycle.

For collectors, the 26579CE occupies a specific and respected niche. Perpetual calendar Royal Oaks in precious metals and steel are well-trodden territory; the full-ceramic execution is rarer, more technically ambitious, and considerably more polarizing in the best sense. The monochromatic black dial with its iconic Grande Tapisserie pattern reads as thoroughly modern without abandoning the architecture that made the Royal Oak canonical.

Lewandowski has been a consistent Audemars Piguet ambassador, and his choice of the 26579CE for a formal FIFA ceremony signals a collector's sensibility rather than a sponsor's obligation — this is not the most visible Royal Oak in the catalog, but arguably one of the most interesting.

On the market, the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar ref. 26579CE carries an official retail price in the region of $134,600 USD. Grey-market demand for the ceramic execution remains firm, with pre-owned examples trading above retail in active secondary markets, reflecting both the complication's pedigree and the ceramic case's collector cachet.