Audemars Piguet drops the new $336,430 Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Spider-Man watch

DUBAI – In the movie Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Marvel’s web-slinging superhero finds himself traversing the Multiverse.

Well, Peter Parker has entered yet another dimension, this time a complex futuristic horological world created by Audemars Piguet (AP).

Since the Royal Oak Concept Black Panther Flying Tourbillon watch was unveiled in 2021, there has been feverish speculation over which superhero would feature next in the Swiss luxury watchmaker’s series of collaborations with Marvel.

The secret was revealed on Thursday in a suite on the 43rd floor of one of Dubai’s newest and swankiest resorts, Atlantis: The Royal, to a select group of international watch journalists.

The general consensus? It is a stunner. The fact that it is Spider-Man – one of the most popular characters in the Marvel pantheon of superheroes – adds considerably to the charm.

The 42mm timepiece features a marvellously detailed and three-dimensional red and blue Spidey with his “thwip” hand gesture, which involves curling the middle and ring fingers and extending the thumb, pinky and index finger. It has a titanium case contrasted with a black ceramic bezel and crown.

Like the Black Panther, the watch is open-worked to showcase the exquisite architecture of its movement – in this case, the new hand-wound Calibre 2974, which is based on the Calibre 2948 used in the Code 11.59 collection.

With the barrel at 12 o’clock and tourbillon at 6 o’clock, it makes a stunning backdrop for the costumed crime-fighter, who looks as though he is going to leap out of the watch.

Guided by the “less is more” ethos, AP’s team of watchmakers, engineers and artisans beavered away to construct the complicated movement by minimising the use of materials.

According to AP’s head of complications Anne-Gaelle Quinet, it has 50 fewer components than the Black Panther’s Calibre 2965, but takes twice as much time to assemble.

“We created this new movement to highlight the character and to give him more space,” she says. The result is a Spidey who looks as though he is suspended in a void.

Artisans first use a computer numerical control machine to cut the silhouette from a 100g block of white gold to render the figure as lifelike as possible.

If there is an almost tactile quality to Spidey’s costume, it is because the lower half is laser-engraved to imbue it with different textures. This involves complex machine programming and multiple tests, says AP’s outgoing chief executive, Mr Francois Bennahmias.

“The suppliers of the machine said, ‘You guys are completely insane at AP because you make our machine do things we did not even think about’,” adds Mr Bennahmias, who has worked at AP for three decades and will be leaving at the end of the year. “We made the machines sing.”

The company announced earlier this week that Ms Ilaria Resta – global perfumery and ingredients president at Geneva-based cosmetics brand Firmenich – will take over the reins in 2024.

The upper half of Spider-Man is then engraved, with details painstakingly hand-painted by one artisan, making each piece unique. The whole process takes 50 hours of work.

The dial boasts PVD-coated gold hour markers and Arabic numerals as well as hands fashioned from the same materials. Given a white luminescent coating, the markers and hands turn blue in the dark.

The Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Spider-Man comes with two straps: a black and grey rubber strap with a titanium AP buckle, as well as a black and red rubber strap to match the colours of Spider-Man’s suit.

A quick change system allows the strap to be easily swopped. Priced at 225,000 Swiss francs (S$336,430) each, the watch is limited to 250 pieces.

There is also a one-of-a-kind timepiece featuring Spidey – who made his debut in 1962 – in a black suit, one worn by the character in several 1980s comics, notably The Amazing Spider-Man #252 in 1984.

The case of this unique piece – which boasts an engraved spider leg motif filled in with a lumed ceramic material – is fashioned from white gold and boasts luminescent hands and hour markers which turn green at night. It comes with a black rubber strap with a velvety texture and a second black calfskin leather strap with a textile effect and silver stitching. 

The watch drew frenzied bidding from both VIP guests and online bidders at an auction, and was sold for a staggering US$6.2 million (S$8.4 million) – beating the Black Panther’s US$5.2 million in 2021 – on Thursday night.

Together with two other auctioned lots, AP raised US$8.5 million, which will be donated to two charities: First Book, a non-profit which provides new books, learning materials and other essentials to children in need; and Ashoka, an organisation which nurtures and cultivates young changemakers.