Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack X Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Reaffirms His Midas Touch

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Cactus Jack’s Midas touch breaks the internet once again. After a hype-fest of Nike dunks, Dior capsules, and a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder meal, the 32-year-old Houston-born rapper Travis Scott has now taken to the watch-verse, with a scintillating collaboration with luxe titan, Audemars Piguet. 

Audemars Piguet’s track record of celebrity endorsements is, and always has been, watchmaking’s finest – audaciously exploring uncharted territories and personalities, bringing new sets of eyes each time to the world of watches. In the 1990s and early 2000s, they presented 11 collaborative pieces with former professional bodybuilder and actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Soon after, they linked with rap sensation, Jay-Z over a disruptive Royal Oak Offshore. They’ve even got LeBron James to design his signature Audemars Piguet. In recent years, they’ve innovatively tied up with Marvel Studios for special-edition Black Panther and Spiderman modes. New York-based fashion label 1017 ALYX 9SM also explored Audemars Piguet’s minimalist alter-ego, creating a counter-culture icon in its own right. We’ve witnessed a fair share of watch maisons teaming up with celebrities, sportsmen, DJs, and rappers over LE capsules – these marriages create spectacular, cross-cultural icons turning watch dials into canvases of art and expression. However, we rarely see the watch market erupt or roar this loud over a collaboration of this order. Marking a new chapter for the watch-verse, Audemars Piguet has just tapped pop cultural phenom, Travis Scott and his record label Cactus Jack over a chocolaty Royal Oak.

After being a long sporter of Audemars Piguet’s himself, the Audemars Piguet x Travis Scott Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Openworked “Cactus Jack” Limited Edition, personally nicknamed by the artist, “The Chocolate AP”, is set to hit markets on December 1^st. At first look itself, it’s evident that this Audemars Piguet is remixed with plenty of references to Scott’s Cactus Jack brand, even bearing his label’s logo on its dial. It’s also almost as if he scrolled through the entire Audemars Piguet complications catalogue and intently picked out their most exquisite capabilities for his RO. In form and function, this isn’t a massive departure from its quintessential – it boasts a 41-mm case crafted out of bronzish ceramic with eight hexagonal white gold screws. The sapphire dial puts its exquisite open-worked Calibre 5135 on display, allowing you to embrace the mechanical engine at work. What’s interesting is that a few movement components are rhodium-toned while others boast pink-gold tones.

Every bit of typography in this piece echoes Travis Scott’s signature hand-drawn model – Right from the day, date, and month sub-dials to the external week indicator ring that surrounds the dial. Upon close inspection, you’ll also notice that the day sub-dial’s markers are replaced by Trav’s brand logo. More so, at six o’clock, what’s traditionally an astronomical moon, has been replaced by Cactus Jack’s emblematic smiley face with its lips sewn shut, dipped in luminescent. Contrasting this, all calendar numeral indicators boast a spooky, glow-in-the-dark luminous effect. Inside, the Calibre 5135 is self-winding and delivers a power reserve of 40 hours at a frequency of 2.75 Hz. The perpetual calendar will not need correction until 2100.

As you turn the piece over to its rear, you’ll be greeted by a stunning open caseback and the nether side of the eight Audemars Piguet signature screws. The pink-gold rotor bears a bridge which boasts a Cactus Jack logo. Up North, engraved you’ll read “UTOPIA IS A STATE OF MIND” – the philosophy intimately laced with Travis Scott’s eponymous 2023 album, with “Limited Edition of 200 Pieces” engraved below. Keeping up with the chocolaty bronze palette, a brand-new textured leather strap makes its debut. On its pink gold folding clasp, engraved are double signatures of Audemars Piguet and Travis Scott. 

Travis Scott, hyped, commented on the release, “Watchmaking, to me, is the ultimate combo of engineering, fashion, tech and design—a harmony of precision, craftsmanship and perfect timing, I approached this collaboration similar to sampling or starting a beat, taking inspiration from classics while introducing innovation to push them into the future. I’m beyond amped about the results, a first-ever for the iconic Royal Oak. For it to be my brother Francois’ final project as CEO of Audemars Piguet makes it even more epic—we are sending him out with a Mega mic drop … LETTTSSSSS GOOOOOO.”

All in all, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Openworked “Cactus Jack” Limited Edition will be limited to 200 units, each retailing at a hefty $201,000. As an extension of this collaboration, Audemars Piguet and Cactus Jack also debuted a clothing capsule including hoodies, T-shirts, shorts, and caps, among other accessories to be sold exclusively at Travis Scott’s official merch store. The artist has also pledged that a portion of profits from the sales of this collection will be donated to a charity project/cause of his choice.