Audemars Piguet has just dropped a Royal Oak that feels like a flex from the future.
Teaming up with AMBUSH founders Yoon Ahn and Verbal, the Swiss watchmaker has unveiled a new limited-edition Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon. And yes, it’s as extra as it sounds.
Limited to just 150 pieces, the 38.5mm watch comes in titanium with a black aventurine dial that looks like a galaxy trapped beneath a sapphire crystal. But the real main character is the vivid red flying tourbillon sitting at six o’clock. It’s a tiny spinning mechanism designed to counter gravity and improve accuracy, while also looking ridiculously good in motion.
For anyone who doesn’t spend their weekends deep in watch TikTok lore, a tourbillon is one of luxury watchmaking’s biggest technical flexes. Inside the AP sits the new hand-wound Calibre 2982 movement, comprising 212 individual parts and offering a 72-hour power reserve. The red cage holding the balance wheel rotates every minute, constantly fighting the effects of gravity to keep the watch precise. Basically, mechanical engineering turned performance art.
The whole watch revolves around movement and energy, something both collaborators wanted to make visually obvious. “Creativity is always in motion. You keep evolving, regenerating, moving forward, so the design of this limited edition had to follow that energy,” said Yoon Ahn. “For me, it was about balance, about creating something truly universal that anyone could connect with.”
That idea carries through the design, too. AP, Yoon, and Verbal leaned hard into “purpose over noise,” exposing parts of the movement through an openworked dial so you can literally see the mechanics working beneath the surface. It gives the piece a raw, industrial energy. Somewhere between cyberpunk minimalism and Tokyo techwear.
The details also go deep. The case mixes sandblasted titanium with polished bevels, the crown is built from black ceramic, and the interchangeable rubber straps come in either stealthy black or bright red with a micro-mosaic texture.
According to Verbal, the colour choice wasn’t random. “Red has always been a powerful colour for us, while the tourbillon cage represents the heart of the watch, the force that keeps everything in motion,” he explained. “Red evokes the Earth’s core. The origin point, the source of energy, and ultimately, the beginning of how we measure time itself.”
Even AP CEO Ilaria Resta framed the collab as something more future-facing than ever. “Their purposeful emphasis on the tourbillon and the movement’s core elements brings the mechanics of time to the fore, reflecting our shared vision to return to the essential,” she said.
More than anything, this watch shows how much watch culture has evolved. Between the exposed mechanics, fashion-world crossover, and futuristic design language, this watch feels aimed directly at the generation raised on sneakers, transparent tech, and hyper-visual storytelling. It’s designed to be screenshotted. And we love it.
More on Culted
See: Step into the future with No Problemo x Le Specs
See: Take a trip to Arizona in Moncler Grenoble’s latest campaign
