Swiss juggernaut Audemars Piguet’s luxury watches have long been the go-to for the rap set, whose timepieces, often customised and blinged-out, have been signifiers of swag and prestige. “I told her sorry for the wait, I value her time like an Audemars-Piguet,” spits Lil Wayne on a verse of “Marvin’s Room”. On 2010’s “Blowin’ Money Fast”, Rick Ross boasts about the “Audemars on my wrist” and its $100k-plus price tag. And in 2009, music icon Quincy Jones designed its millinery model, complete with blackened steel and white-gold dial to recall the piano keys with which he made his most iconic records. Jones, Ross and Wayne are not the only ones: the brand has long fostered relationships across fashion, music, sport and film.

The latest collaboration for the brand, (colloquially dubbed AP) is with Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack label, which takes their iconic Royal Oak model and reimagines it in a brown ceramic colourway with a sapphire dial and a playful CJ emblem taking the place of Audermars moon-face logo. The watch, which has been dubbed “the Chocolate AP” by Scott, will be made in a limited 200-piece run.

The collaboration also features a curated line of co-branded AP x Cactus Jack merchandise that will no doubt be highly sought-after. It’s set to be unveiled at an AP x CJ store takeover and after-hours party (where we hear guests will be treated to a special Travis Scott performance).

Speaking to Dazed, Scott describes watchmaking as ”the ultimate combo of engineering, fashion, tech and design – a harmony of precision, craftsmanship and perfect timing.” He adds that he approached the collaboration in a similar way to how he would create music, ”taking inspiration from classics while introducing innovation to push them into the future.” 

”I’m beyond amped about the results, a first-ever for the iconic Royal Oak,” he continues. ”For it to be my brother Francois’ final project as CEO of AP makes it even more epic – we are sending him out with a mega fucking epic mic drop. Let’s go!”

In honour of the collab, we look back at some of the brand’s most iconic partnerships below.

JAY-Z

In 2006, Jay-Z, the owner of some of the priciest and rarest APs out there, released a 100-piece Audemars Piguet collaboration, with his autograph emblazoned on the case. For added cache, each special limited edition 10th anniversary box came with its own 40-gigabyte iPod, complete with Jay-Z’s discography.

LEBRON JAMES

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the AP Royal Oak Offshore, Audemars Piguet unveiled a new limited-edition collaboration with basketball legend LeBron James. They released the collab in Miami to a crowd hoping to land one of the 600 watches — what’s more, a limited-edition basketball that was given out on the night to some of the first buyers. Chic!

MATTHEW WILLIAMS

Earlier this year, Williams’ 1017 ALYX 9SM released four Royal Oak models crafted entirely of 18-carat yellow and white gold. This wasn’t Williams’ first time designing his own AP model: in 2019, he did a guerilla collaboration with customiser MAD Paris to transform the Royal Oak he has always worn. The design went on to catch the attention of Lil Yachty and basketball player Kevin Durant.

MARVEL

AP’s partnership with Marvel spans from the Black Panther model to the AP x Spiderman (the Panther model sold for $6.2 million in Dubai). Apparently actor Don Cheadle is to thank for Marvel and AP’s collaboration, after he called the president of Marvel on behalf of AP’s CEO François-Henry Bennahmias, who had been trying to kickstart a Marvel x AP collab as far back as 2003.