With artist KAWS, Audemars Piguet brings pop art to its Royal Oak Concept

The characters in KAWS are at once familiar, strange and even a little disturbing. The artist Brian Donnelly, better known by his pseudonym KAWS, began his career as a graffiti artist in New York in the 1990s. Following in the footsteps of pop culture legends such as Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, KAWS takes pleasure in hijacking the messages of consumer society. In this case, he transforms the characters in the advertisements posted in the streets of major cities, adding skulls and snakes. He then found a new signature expression that would make him successful when he invented new characters inspired by Mickey's body, topped by a head shaped like a pirate's skull and X-shaped eyes. The ‘Companions’ were born. He would go on to create a host of others, turning them into toys, T-shirts, posters, and key rings - in short, every object in the consumer society. He signed capsule collections with popular and luxury brands, from Jordan to H&M, from Comme des Garçons to Hennessy. His success is global, and his stock is sky-high. His large cartoon-like figurines (paintings or sculptures) fetch high prices, ranging from €1,000,000 to €3,000,000.

Today, he is working with watchmaker Audemars Piguet on a limited collection of 250 pieces, and more specifically on the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon in titanium, a series of watches that dare to cross boundaries, whether technological or aesthetic. We remember the Royal Oak Concept ‘Spider-Man’, which already featured a fantastic character, or the Royal Oak Concept Tamara Ralph, designed in close collaboration with the creative director and founder of the eponymous haute couture brand.

Here, the originality of the model lies in the fact that it encapsulates one of KAWS's ‘Companions’, who can be seen emerging from the dial beneath the crystal. To make room for the KAWS character, the hour and minute hands have been shifted to the periphery of the movement and dial, thanks to a series of gear trains. According to Ilaria Resta, CEO of Audemars Piguet: ‘(...) KAWS has taken collaboration to a whole new level. By placing a miniature COMPANION at the heart of a Royal Oak Concept, he not only challenged us to push new boundaries, he also encouraged us to look at our craftsmanship from a more humanistic perspective and reflect on the power of both the imaginary and Haute Horlogerie to inspire curiosity and evoke strong emotions.’