This is the one-off Bugatti worthy of having a Royal Oak Flying Tourbillon dash clock

Borna Bošnjak

For most of us mere mortals, owning any vehicle with the Bugatti name badge on it save for a scaled-down kids’ replica is fully out of the realm of possibility. There are those, of course, who aren’t just able to shell out the dough for a big boy Bug, but are also in the brand’s good graces to the point where they’re allowed to commission their own one-off creations. That’s the genesis story of the all-new Bugatti F.K.P. Hommage, honouring Ferdinand Karl Piëch and the revived Bugatti’s first car, the Veyron – with the help of a particularly generous benefactor.

For those unaware, Piëch was the chairman of the Volkswagen Group who insisted on the Bugatti Veyron project going ahead despite the huge investment and rumoured losses that VW made on each car. Safe to say, the gamble paid off. To quickly jump to the topic at hand for any of you who are less vehicularly inclined, this tribute to the Veyron is of interest to us watch nerds because of a small change to the car’s oval, perlage-finished dashboard insert.

The watch: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Flying Tourbillon

Despite Bugatti’s recent ties with the folks over at Chronode that make the dashboard of the upcoming Tourbillon (and Jacob & Co., I guess), the F.K.P. Hommage has tapped Le Brassus for its contribution. And what an excellent choice that gradient red dial was, perfectly blending with the two-tone exterior finish that pays tribute to the first customer-delivered Veyron.

Sitting in a custom-built winder that will automatically keep the power reserve topped up is the iconic 41mm octagonal case, made all the better by the flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock, perhaps a nod to the brand’s upcoming model. To honour the mechanically beating heart of the AP, the “gondola”, as Bugatti calls it, isnt’t electronically connected, and is “powered by the car itself”.

To fans of AP, the F.K.P. Hommage’s clock will immediately draw comparisons to the ref. 26730ST.OO.1320ST.05, a red-dialled, flying tourbillon-equipped Royal Oak variant in a matching 41mm case – but from what I can tell, the two dials don’t exactly match in colour, though this could be down to the colour grading of the photos.

Bugatti says that the watch was “integrated into this vehicle at the request of the future owner”, though the case was clearly changed or re-made for the car, with perhaps just the movement taken from the original wristwatch. Details are fairly sparse, but the overall execution does remind me of these old AP desk clocks, though those measured in at 65mm, and would require retrofitting from a quartz to a mechanical calibre.

The car: Bugatti F.K.P. Hommage

Considering the Venn diagram of watch fans and car enthusiasts is almost a circle, I don’t feel bad delving a little deeper into the new Bug. It’s the second iteration of the brand’s relatively recent Programme Solitaire that kicked off with the bonkers Brouillard in August of 2025, existing as a means for Bugatti’s best clients to have an opportunity to own a one-off car, limited to two new creations per year. It also opens the door for Bugatti to get back into coach building, with the underpinnings of both the Bruillard and the F.K.P. Hommage using a Mistral as a donor car, which is essentially just a Chiron Super Sport without a roof.

What this also means is that Bugatti is taking a page out of Pagani’s playbook – less so about sculpted lines of bookmatched carbon fibre and machined aluminium knobs, and more so extending the life of what is supposed to be a discontinued platform. There was the Chiron Super Sport l’Ultime, the 500th and final one to be built… Which of course doesn’t include the insane, track-only Bolide and aforementioned Mistral, of which 40 and 99 were made, and most certainly, definitely the last Bugs to be powered by the W16. Now, it’s looking like the already limited numbers of the Chiron-based cars are going to dwindle in their original format, replaced instead by these coach-built variants. Perhaps, however, Bugatti would be willing to take on some of their earlier models for a refresh – I’d love to see an EB110 but restyled as one of Gandini’s original sketches, or a tribute to the ID90/BMW Nazca M12…

Looking at the two side-by-side, the Veyron and F.K.P. Hommage immediately give me the father-and-son vibe that I believe Bugatti was going for. Whereas the oblong, slightly awkward stance of Papa V is now undoubtedly iconic, they’re also very of their time, as automakers were still struggling to leave the blobbiness of the 1990s behind. The F.K.P. cleans up some of these lines, especially ’round the front, but surprisingly leaves the squatting derriere quite faithful to the original, accented by the two swooping top-mounted intakes. The entire silhouette is stretched out, with sharper creases in all the right places that don’t cut away from the pioneering charm of the original. With the Chiron Super Sport’s underpinnings, it also means the F.K.P. gains nearly 600 horses for a total of 1,600 – the Veyron famously outputs 1,001.

If you’re reading this and thinking “hey, I’ve got that old Chiron lying about somewhere, along with a haute horlogerie watch I’d like to put on the dash…” Congrats! You might just be the next lucky owner of a Solitaire model. Just make sure you also grab that spare $15 million on your way out.