This Audemars Piguet Royal Oak puts a Kaws Companion behind the crystal

The latest timepiece from Audemars Piguet is a collaboration with American artist Kaws, best known for his work with sculptures and acrylic paintings featuring a greyscale cartoon character called Companion.

Instead of merely incorporating Companion on the dial or caseback, Audemars Piguet has seemingly installed the character right into the centre of the watch. The character’s face with its iconic X-shaped eyes appears to be resting its head and gloved, outstretched hands against the inner surface of the sapphire crystal, giving the watch a captivating 3D appearance.

And, where previous examples of Royal Oak Concept have placed the hour and minute hands over the featured character – as AP did with its Spider-Man novelty – here the time is shown by a pair of arrow tips pushed right to the outer edge of the dial. Meanwhile, the watch’s tourbillon movement is fittingly installed in the heart of Companion.

Turn the watch around, and the skeletal case back shows the rear of the movement, along with the Audemars Piguet logo and an inscription stating how the watch is limited to 250 examples. The watch is made almost entirely from brushed and sandblasted titanium, with grey and white lacquer used to bring out details like Companion’s eyes and the inscriptions on the rear of the movement.

Fractionaly larger than previous examples of Royal Oak Concept, the Kaws model has a case diameter of 43 mm. The crown is made from black ceramic and the watch comes with a pair of calfskin leather straps, in dark grey and slate grey. Both are embossed with a textile pattern on their outside.

Water resistance is 100 metres and the Calibre 2979 movement has 39 jewels and a power reserve of 72 hours. The watch is priced at CHF 200,000 (£178,000) and is available now.