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One-Off Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon Sells for $5.2 Million

In the world of haute horlogerie, superhero themes aren’t exactly common. While Richard Mille comes closest to such outlandish, unexpected themes in his creations, most watchmakers seem to avoid the mass appeal of pop culture icons.
The Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with Marvel 14 photos
Photo: Audemars Piguet
The Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with MarvelThe Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with Marvel
Audemars Piguet stands out: it announced its first-ever collaboration with Marvel a while back, and the first releases under the new partnership should have come out last year. But we all know how 2020 turned out to be, so the launch was pushed back until April 2021. The event was streamed online, as was the auction that preceded it. Among the items offered to collectors was a one-off piece, a variation of the 250-unit limited-series of the brand-new Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon.

The Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with Marvel
Photo: Audemars Piguet
That watch ended up selling for a record $5.2 million to a gentleman in China, with bidding starting at $100,000. This makes it not just the first superhero-themed timepiece but also the most expensive of the kind sold at auction and a very expensive piece of art. Because, make no mistake about it, regardless of your take on this particular superhero or its integration in a watch, the work on it is pure art.

Based on the Royal Oak Concept, AP’s lab for experimentation since 2002, the Black Panther watch is smaller than preceding takes on the Concept. It’s 42 mm wide and 14.6 mm high and bears a certain cartoonish vibe that’s already gotten it plenty of negative reactions. Then again, this is a product designed with Marvel: expecting it not to be cartoonish is probably a strange reaction, in reality.

Made of titanium, the watch retains an air of angularity but without compromise to wearability. The highlight is, of course, the hand-painted and hand-engraved Black Panther figure in the dial, made of 18-carat white gold, lunging outwards. According to AP, designing Black Panther proved to be a real challenge, and it started with first creating new tools to design and cut it.

The Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with Marvel
Photo: Audemars Piguet
To create the figure, a single white gold disc was cut with CNC machining, which was then laser-carved to give the unique, realistic texture of the suit. The figure was then hand-engraved and hand-painted by a single craftsman, with incredible attention to every detail, from the eyes to the claws and the muscles. To add more depth to the figure, certain portions were left unpainted so as to provide a contrast between matte and mirror surfaces.

According to AP, each Black Panther figure in the watch takes 30 hours to make. For the entire 250-unit series, the watchmaker employed four engravers and four painters.

The detailing doesn’t stop here, either. The case of the one-off, made entirely of 18-carat gold, bears Wakandan motifs, also hand-carved. The case is made of titanium and features satin-brushed inserts on the lugs that match the superhero’s costume on the limited series.

The Audemars Piguet “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is the brand's first collaboration with Marvel
Photo: Audemars Piguet
The piece is powered by Caliber 2965, a hand-wound mechanism with a flying tourbillon first introduced in 2018, providing 72 hours of power reserve when fully wound. The mechanism is partly visible through the sapphire-crystal on the back; sections of the titanium bridges are also visible in the dial's background, behind the imposing Black Panther figure.

The “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon is offered with an integrated purple rubber strap, in keeping with the predominant colorway in this Marvel universe, and a black strap as a backup. Pricing for one of the 250 limited-series pieces is CHF150,000, which is roughly $162,000 at the current exchange rate.

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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