This unique Bugatti has a self-winding Audemars Piguet Tourbillon on its dashboard

Bugatti has just revealed a surprise new car, in the form of the unique FKP Hommage – and there’s a very special timepiece fitted to the dashboard.

It’s an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Tourbillon, fitted as a special request from the Bugatti customer who commissioned the car. The graduated red and black dial matches the bodywork of the car, while the tourbillon movement is proudly on display at the six o’clock position, and there’s an “AP” branded crown mounted to the side of the 41mm octagonal case.

The watch sits within what Bugatti calls an “island” finished with an engine-turned effect. This section of the dashboard houses a set of circular controls and displays that will be familiar to anyone who knows their way around the Bugatti Chiron.

Bugatti notes how the engine-turned effect, which covers the metalwork in hundreds of semi-circles, is a manufacturing technique borrowed from Ettore’s Bugatti’s original engine cylinder heads.

Back to the watch, and it being an automatic movement, you might wonder how it stays wound without being worn. The answer is found in a bespoke self-winding mechanism, which sees the timepiece rotate on a diagonal axis several times per hour. This is electrically-driven and powered by the car itself, so as long as there’s power in the battery the watch will stay wound and keep accurate time.

The French supercar maker says how the timepiece integration “reflects the customer’s personal vision and Bugatti’s ability to accommodate highly individual requests as part of the Programme Solitaire.”

That’s the division of Bugatti that builds one-off cars like the FKP Hommage. Revealed this week, it shares its chassis and drivetrain with the Bugatti Mistral, which is in turn an evolution of the mighty Chiron – which T3 drove in Super Sport form in 2022.

The body of the new car is a tribute to the Bugatti Veyron, which arrived just over 20 years ago and is regarded as one of the most significant cars of all time. The initials are those of Dr Ferdinand Karl Piëch, the engineer responsible for the Veyron.

This is likely the last time we’ll see a new car with Bugatti’s famous W16 engine, and in this final form it produces almost 1,600 horsepower – 60 percent more than when it first appeared in the Veyron two decades ago.

A custom, one-off Bugatti isn’t the sort of thing that comes with a price tag in the windscreen, but it’s safe to assume the customer paid an eight-figure sum for the privilege.

Sticking with the watch theme, deliveries of Bugatti's next car are due to start later this year – and it's called the Tourbillon.