Cactus Jack (Travis Scott’s label) x AP Collab

[Vince_76]

Stumbled upon this… looks like it may include merch.

Looks like RO in black ceramic moons phase

More details to come:

https://www.reddit.com/r/travisscott/s/CRfV9sClDU

https://www.reddit.com/r/audemarspiguet/s/joVqKsz8nY

https://twitter.com/TRAVISONTOUR/sta...40035532017735

BOF Article:

Swiss luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet is set to renew its longstanding ties to American pop culture with the release of a watch collaboration with hip-hop star Travis Scott and his label Cactus Jack Records.
In partnership with Scott, Audemars Piguet will release a limited-edition version of its Royal Oak watch Friday in a new ceramic, as well as putting out a capsule collection of co-branded merchandise from the Swiss watchmaking house and Cactus Jack.
The new watch will be formally unveiled at an event in New York this evening and will feature a number of motifs from Scott’s Cactus Jack label, including a moon phase decorated with a luminous version of the hip brand’s logo — a smiley face with its mouth sewn shut.
“Travis could raise an army,” said Audemars Piguet’s chief executive François-Henri Bennahmias in an exclusive interview with The Business of Fashion. “He’s got such a power. People follow him in a major way.”
Scott, 32, is one of the most successful hip-hop artists of his generation. His fourth studio album Utopia, released in July, had more than 650 million global streams in its opening week, making it the most commercially successful hip-hop album of the year.
The collaboration is likely to be remembered not just for a wristwatch co-designed by Scott, but for the collection of hoodies, T-shirts, jackets, pyjamas, shorts and caps sold through Scott’s own e-commerce platform.
“People will go nuts when they know that AP and Travis have made merch together,” said Bennahmias. “It breaks pretty much every code. Is it going to be successful? We could have multiplied the quantity by at least 10 times and still been successful.”
Audemars Piguet, Bennahmias said, would make “zero” profit from the clothes and accessories, which instead would fund the Cactus Jack Foundation, which grants scholarships to disadvantaged young people.
The collaboration will also be remembered as François-Henri Bennahmias’s swan-song before he retires from the role of Audemars Piguet’s chief executive at the end of this year, a post he took up in 2012 having joined the company almost 30 years ago.
Bennahmias is recognised as one of the watch industry’s most disruptive and influential figures, transforming the family-owned company from a dusty high-end watchmaker into one of the most recognised and in-demand names in luxury.
It was Bennahmias who, while running the company’s US operations, brought it together with Muhammad Ali and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Time To Give auction in the year 2000, and then forged an unlikely alliance to street culture with the Royal Oak Offshore Jay-Z 10th Anniversary in 2005, a watch collab widely considered by industry observers to be a tipping point for the typically conservative Swiss watch industry.
AP has since continued to align itself with popular culture, nurturing high-profile relationships with stars of film, music, sports and the arts, including LeBron James, Kevin Hart and Ed Sheeran, powering rapid sales growth for its watches which have an average price of 42,000 Swiss francs ($47,970).
Bennahmias said he expects Audemars Piguet’s 2023 revenues to grow by around 200,000 Swiss francs to top 2.3 billion Swiss francs ($2.6 billion).
The partnership with Scott might have been announced sooner. In June this year, a Texas grand jury declined criminal charges brought against Scott after 10 people, including a nine-year-old girl, were killed in a crush at a festival he founded in 2021. Scott was widely criticised for his response to the Astroworld Festival disaster. Bennahmias declined to comment on the incident, but said that Audemars Piguet had waited until the jury’s decision before activating the collaboration, having first met Scott in 2020 when he was a client.

[SylvainDXB]

Confirmed by a BOF article, watch will be unveiled this Friday (as per BOF).
Let's see....

[In-N-Out]

Couldn’t think of a worse collab, but I hope the watch itself is sick.

[Vince_76]

Originally Posted by SylvainDXB

Confirmed by a BOF article, watch will be unveiled this Friday (as per BOF).
Let's see....

https://archive.is/Su2Gt

Looks like RO in black ceramic moons phase

[Audevache]

Am I the only one hoping that Ilaria will cut down on these collabs?

They are so much in François’ DNA (and probably make a lot of commercial sense) but they are really pushing me away bit of an otherwise fantastic brand.

[westoque]

From the article https://archive.is/Su2Gt:

> Bennahmias is recognised as one of the watch industry’s most disruptive and influential figures, transforming the family-owned company from a dusty high-end watchmaker into one of the most recognised and in-demand names in luxury.

Such a terrible take to say that the brand was "dusty" pre-Bennahmias.

[AperolSpritz]

Oh God, please no... I hoped all this would stop with FHB out the door..

[mquarter]

Originally Posted by Audevache

Am I the only one hoping that Ilaria will cut down on these collabs?

I'm completely with you. Hope she works on the fundamentals such as the distribution channel and maybe brings out a product line that can be as much of a hit as the RO (a difficult task for sure).

[edo]

I have zero problems with collabs and brand ambassadors, in fact it is a great thing to associate with great people who have a lot of influence. Problem in AP, or should I say FHB case is they are d**kriding celebrities and put them way above the brand itself, and most of them doesn't even care about AP. Lebron wore Milles most of the time after the launch of his edition, Trulli signed AP box with his edition with Nautilus on the wrist, etc... Just look at Rolex, Richard Mille, Omega... they have true brand ambassadors that are never bigger than the brand and represents the brands in true manner...

[TopherMins]

Would anyone be upset about an AP x John Mayer collab?

[Napaswar]

I've no issue with collab pieces as long as AP produces technical advancement and superior craftsmanship to the market.
Sure, people who love the classics and heritage wouldn't be happy with what FHB has done but can't deny he or Travis has brought AP to different cultures and youngs from serious PP and VC. I love 5970, 5270, or even 222 although they are quite boring (IMHO) but still prefer to own a couple of pieces from AP because it's more fun and casual.

[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by westoque

Such a terrible take to say that the brand was "dusty" pre-Bennahmias.

How so? Seems pretty accurate to me.

[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by edo

Just look at Rolex, Richard Mille, Omega... they have true brand ambassadors that are never bigger than the brand and represents the brands in true manner...

Not sure if you're serious - who of the Omega "brand ambassadors" would be wearing Omegas if they weren't paid for it?

[AEV]

Didn't even know who this guy was before reading this..LOL

I would like to see AP launching some of the Wristcheck's competition winners.

[creid213]

Ambassadors are fine but co branded collaborations seem tacky imo

[Reign]

Looks like openworked ceramic QP. Pretty awesome looking parking everything else







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[SoylentGreenChi]

On the one hand, the aesthetics of these collaborations are rarely my cup of tea. On the other hand, I applaud and frankly am energized by AP getting wider, broader, and more diverse communities into a hobby I enjoy. So I’m all for this, the more the merrier.

[huncho]

wow a lot of hate for Travis here but can't say i'm surprised considering the demographic on this site/reddit. he's an actual watch enthusiast with a great collection of APs and doesn't do gimmicky crap like the marvel releases

from the looks of it it looks like it's gonna be a watch for enthusiasts and his brand is huge. he has tons of collabs with nike and none of them ruined the integrity of the sneakers he's collabing for, just includes very subtle changes that stand out enough to be identifiable, which is usually just his trademark reverse swoosh. he's not gonna be releasing fully colored iced out watches lol

lot of gatekeeping on here whenever it comes to celebs

Originally Posted by edo

I have zero problems with collabs and brand ambassadors, in fact it is a great thing to associate with great people who have a lot of influence. Problem in AP, or should I say FHB case is they are d**kriding celebrities and put them way above the brand itself, and most of them doesn't even care about AP. Lebron wore Milles most of the time after the launch of his edition, Trulli signed AP box with his edition with Nautilus on the wrist, etc... Just look at Rolex, Richard Mille, Omega... they have true brand ambassadors that are never bigger than the brand and represents the brands in true manner...

lol which of the omega ambassadors is actually an enthusiast? their main guy is Clooney who couldn't care less + is never out in public or in the news and Daniel Craig who wears them in movies but wears Rolex's in real life. meanwhile Lebron is seen wearing ceramic APs and jumbos every week

[edo]

Originally Posted by VogelPhoenix

Not sure if you're serious - who of the Omega "brand ambassadors" would be wearing Omegas if they weren't paid for it?

No matter of brand, they are all getting paid, get free watches and vip treatment events, they fly them around the world. But the thing I spoke about is that most of these brand ambassadors treat brands with equal respect.

[Cease676]

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[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by AEV

Didn't even know who this guy was before reading this..LOL

He's in the top 10 most streamed artists globally and had a huge album this year (all 19 songs in the top 100), and has been a huge AP client for years.

[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by edo

No matter of brand, they are all getting paid, get free watches and vip treatment events, they fly them around the world. But the thing I spoke about is that most of these brand ambassadors treat brands with equal respect.

A good fraction of APs high-end production ends up in the hands of A (or at least B+) list music/movie/sports/etc celebrities. Apart from a few named ambassadors, I'd be curious to hear some evidence that all the gold Jumbos/rainbow bezel open-workeds, ceramic QPs etc go out the door for free. Maybe yes, maybe no.

[Dhubby]

Originally Posted by mquarter

I'm completely with you. Hope she works on the fundamentals such as the distribution channel and maybe brings out a product line that can be as much of a hit as the RO (a difficult task for sure).

This might be a hot take but unless RO's become more accessible, I feel like every new collection is doomed to fail. It will always be viewed as a stepping stone to get what you truly want -- a RO.

Or maybe the CODE 1159 was just not it. I'm not sure but I'm willing to bet every new product line / collection is fighting an uphill battle right out of the gate.

[edo]

Originally Posted by VogelPhoenix

A good fraction of APs high-end production ends up in the hands of A (or at least B+) list music/movie/sports/etc celebrities. Apart from a few named ambassadors, I'd be curious to hear some evidence that all the gold Jumbos/rainbow bezel open-workeds, ceramic QPs etc go out the door for free. Maybe yes, maybe no.

Never said that every AB lister with AP on wrist was given/paid. What I speak about whole time is paid/named ambassadors. And most of these treated AP like a one night stand.

[edo]

Here we go... a fun one...

[Vince_76]

Anyone know pricing for this?

[dmash]

I’m not a hater, but wearing Cactus Jack shoes is one thing…..there’s really a clientele to pay $100k (plus) for a timepiece with a stitched smiley moon face and cactus jack day indicator? Not only do you have to be the .1% to afford this from the get go, but you’d also need to be the .1% of his fan base to wear something that’s marketing him that hard. Just seems crazy. This seems to me more like a 1/1 personal piece for him, not something anybody actually buys.

Those handwritten numerals come off as school childish to me as well, just weird to be on a high horology, openwork QP.

[Reign]

Originally Posted by dmash

I’m not a hater, but wearing Cactus Jack shoes is one thing…..there’s really a clientele to pay $100k (plus) for a timepiece with a stitched smiley moon face and cactus jack day indicator? Not only do you have to be the .1% to afford this from the get go, but you’d also need to be the .1% of his fan base to wear something that’s marketing him that hard. Just seems crazy. This seems to me more like a 1/1 personal piece for him, not something anybody actually buys.

Those handwritten numerals come off as school childish to me as well, just weird to be on a high horology, openwork QP.

They’re making 200 of them.

At the end of the day, it’s an openworked ceramic QP which are rare birds. People will suck these up


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[Gandor]

no good :(

[HMHM]

So we have gone from one of the most beautiful watches of ALL TIME, to this bad adaptation of it….. why they decided to butcher their flagship piece for this collaboration blows my mind!

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Pics courtesy of Hodinkee