When I thought I had seen it all with the release of the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon ‘Black Panther’ in 2021, I was definitely wrong. You can read my thoughts on that particular release here. Now, let me share my thoughts about what I consider to be the lowest any luxury brand could hit, let alone a brand like Audemars Piguet that I’ve been buying since 1998. How can you be part of the ‘Holy Trinity of Watchmaking’ when you release such a watch?
After the release of Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon ‘Black Panther,’ I still had some respect left for Audemars Piguet and for their CEO François-Henry Bennahmias who I know well and have met personally on many occasions. Unfortunately at the time, I provided constructive criticism and Audemars Piguet was very upset about it. Almost a year later and after attending the opening of the AP House in New York City, I would suffer the consequences for publishing that particular editorial and another one about their watch allocation practices.
Today, my relationship with the brand is almost non-existent despite that I have been a collector of Audemars Piguet timepieces since 1998 and that WCL holds the largest amount of Audemars Piguet content anywhere on the web.
Even though I was very respectful when I called them out on how they allocate watches to people that are just looking to flip them and make a quick buck, the AP axe came down very hard. Now, I have not only been blacklisted as a customer but also as a journalist —press releases are not even emailed to us anymore.
I guess in their mind, journalism has to be biased and shouldn’t call out the harsh truth. You can read the editorial about their watch allocation practices right here.
What I am about to express regarding the AP Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Spider-Man' are my own personal views and I will present them in the most professional and respectful way as I always do.
When I first learned about a collaboration between Audemars Piguet and Marvel two years ago I was beyond shocked. I couldn’t believe that the one watch brand that has remained in the hands of the direct descendants of their founders since 1875 was doing something with a comic book company. Much respect for Marvel and their comics but to me, blending ‘haute horlogerie’ and superheroes is a no-go in my book.
The new Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Spider-Man' goes to greater lengths to devalue the brand more than the ‘Black Panther’ already did and it seems like the perfect way for their CEO to leave on a very low note. I mean, we all know that he loves to be the center of attention and he’s always been all about celebrities. The new ‘Spider-Man’ watch shows that the brand really doesn’t care about its tradition and it’s all about the bottom line. Can you imagine Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, or Jaeger-LeCoultre doing something similar? Of course, they will never even think about doing it.
At least with the ‘Black Panther’ the superhero on the watch dial seemed to blend in because it was all black, however, when it comes to the ‘Spider-Man’ Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon, the blue and red pop so much that the watch looks beyond gimmicky and tacky. Literally, like ‘Spider-Man’ watches sold at Walmart.
Image: Amazon.com
As a seasoned watch collector of Audemars Piguet timepieces for 25 years, I can only say that this watch is a monstrosity. Imagine that the same brand that disrupted the watch industry with the launch of the Royal Oak in 1972 and created a new segment of stainless steel luxury watches, comes 50 years later and releases a watch with Spider-Man on its dial. Isn’t that totally incongruent?
Now that I see Audemars Piguet hitting an ultimate low with this release, I cannot stop thinking about this week’s announcement, that Procter & Gamble’s veteran —22 years working on hair care products— Ilaria Resta will become AP’s CEO starting January 2024 —after a transition period to begin in August of 2023.
If under the reigns of François-Henry Bennahmias —a former French Pro Golfer by the way— who’s been working at Audemars Piguet for almost 30 years, we get ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Spider-Man’ Royal Oak Concept Tourbillons, just imagine what we can expect from someone coming from the CPG —Consumer Packaged Goods— world. Are we expecting Audemars Piguet to nose dive just like Hublot just did with the release of the Big Bang Unico Nespresso Origin?
Are we now expecting Procter & Gamble’s Mr. Clean to become the next superhero to grace the dial of an Audemars Piguet timepiece?
It saddens me deeply, to see that a luxury watch brand that has been around for almost 150 years —since 1875— releases watches with superheroes on their dials. Clearly, François-Henry Bennahmias is wanting to leave on a very high note as we all can see. Please stop the agony Audemars Piguet.
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