Cue the bells.
The fiftieth anniversary of the Royal Oak has been trigger for celebration at Audemars Piguet, which has launched a slew of latest fashions in its iconic vary. This fall, the road additional expands with some colourful new variations on technical items, which mix cutting-edge expertise with au courant model — all whereas preserving the enduring 1972 design that Swiss watchmaker and artist Gérald Genta famously sketched out in a single night.
Making its debut in September as a US unique (earlier than increasing its attain world wide), the limited-edition Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon is an evolution of the fiftieth Anniversary Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon launched earlier this 12 months in metal, titanium and 18-karat pink gold, powered by the model’s latest-gen Calibre 2950 and fitted with a 50-year winding rotor. Restricted to 50 items with out the commemorative rotor, the brand new titanium particular version flaunts just a little extra pizzazz with a vibrant, smoked blue-green Grande Tapisserie dial, set with baguette-cut diamonds to mark the 12 o’clock hour.
Designers additionally dressed up the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in a modern, 41 mm blue ceramic case, fitted with an identical satin-finish ceramic bracelet. Even the Grande Tapisserie dial and subdials go all-in on the cool, 50-shades-of-blue vibe. Utilizing light-weight, scratch-resistant ceramic in an elegantly slender case endows the age-old perpetual calendar with Twenty first-century modernity and sport-chic attraction.
The automated Calibre 5134 is a basic perpetual calendar that mechanically adjusts for months of various lengths, theoretically till 2100.
Artisans in Le Brassus, Switzerland, meticulously hand-finish every ceramic part in the identical style as steel, so as to intensify mild play on the multifaceted surfaces. Showcased via the clear sapphire caseback, the automated Calibre 5134 is a basic perpetual calendar that mechanically adjusts for months of various lengths, theoretically till 2100. (As long as your descendants preserve it constantly wound and operating.)
Royal Oak additionally served up the shade du jour in high-end watches with a brand new iteration of the 44 mm Royal Oak Idea Flying Tourbillon GMT in sandblasted titanium, now outfitted with a bezel, crown and push-piece in inexperienced ceramic. Even the black architectural motion, showcased via the dial and sapphire caseback, options matching inexperienced inserts, placing a contemporary spin on the Idea’s technical aesthetic.
Black is something however primary on the subject of the smoking sizzling, all-noir ceramic 41 mm Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph. It’s powered by the model’s computerized Calibre 4401 and geared up with an built-in flyback chronograph operate, designed for split-second accuracy that enables wearers to immediately cease, reset and restart the chronograph timing operate all with a single push. And we’re nonetheless reeling from the spell solid by final summer time’s black-magical Selfwinding Carolina Bucci Restricted Version 34 mm, with a laser-engraved sapphire dial appointed with pink-gold accents.
Final spring’s 39 mm Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Further-Skinny RD#3 fiftieth Anniversary — the primary “Jumbo” with an computerized flying tourbillon — actually induced a sensation. For fall, Audemars Piguet pushed the technical envelope even additional, downsizing it to 37 mm for thinner wrists, due to its newest ultrathin, self-winding, flying tourbillon motion: the Calibre 2968, which measures a mere 3.4 mm thick. The watchmaker additionally switched out the signature blue Petite Tapisserie dial for an unconventional and intriguing shade of regal plum.
There’s little doubt that 2022 has been a banner 12 months for the enduring watch, with a outstanding array of latest fashions that embody the evolution of the gathering over half a century. And whereas Audemars Piguet has launched superior actions and delicate tweaks to circumstances, bracelets and dials, it has additionally rigorously preserved the enduring 1972 codes that made Royal Oak the legend that it's. Lengthy might it reign.
As soon as upon a time: A half-century of Royal Oak makes for an actual web page turner
Name it a story as outdated as time. Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet and the luxurious publishing home Assouline have teamed as much as inform the story of the primary 50 years of the model’s flagship mannequin in regal style with the milestone ebook “Royal Oak: From Iconoclast to Icon.”
Creator Invoice Prince, an award-winning journalist and former deputy editor of British GQ, brings a broader cultural context to the historical past of Royal Oak, which induced a stir amongst watch purists when it was unveiled on the Baselworld commerce truthful in 1972.
On the time, the standard, mechanical watch business was reeling from the arrival of cheap, superaccurate quartz watches. Like different struggling manufacturers,
Audemars Piguet wanted to shake issues as much as survive.
Designed by the legendary Gérald Genta, Audemars Piguet’s revolutionary Royal Oak set a brand new paradigm, combining a 39 mm hand-finished, stainless-steel case with an octagonal bezel fastened with eight hexagonal screws, an built-in hyperlink bracelet and a blue dial engraved with a Petite Tapisserie grid sample. Inside beat the superbly completed computerized Calibre 2121, the thinnest computerized mechanical motion of the time.
Nicknamed “Jumbo,” the Royal Oak’s unprecedented fusion of rugged metal and stylish horology mirrored its transformative midcentury second, whereas laying down a marker for the way forward for watchmaking.
“We needed to invent a mannequin each sporty and trendy in spirit, appropriate for night put on and for the every day actions of at present’s man of style,” defined Georges Golay, Audemars Piguet’s managing director from 1966 to 1987, who's quoted within the ebook. Right this moment, that description sums up the preferred and coveted watches on the earth, together with the Royal Oak.
The weighty quantity highlights key fashions within the Royal Oak’s evolution, together with this 12 months’s anniversary assortment, interwoven with archival supplies found by the model’s Heritage division. There’s additionally imagery of the groundbreaking artwork, structure, style and music that has influenced the cultural zeitgeist of the previous six a long time.
Prince additionally introduces the voices of Audemars Piguet’s notable followers and ambassadors, together with celebrities Kevin Hart, Elle Macpherson and Serena Williams to call a number of. In keeping with the ebook, this “Technology Royal Oak” — aficionados who got here of age in the course of the mannequin’s reign — represents a gaggle of movers and shakers whose refusal to comply with the group echoes the enduring spirit of their favourite watch.
Photographer: Jeffrey Westbrook; Prop stylist: Alex Brannian.
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