2023-12-10 18:30:00
Fans and collectors of legendary watches instantly associate the name of the brand with that of the Royal Oak which, last year, celebrated five decades of existence. In 1972, it was the very first luxury watch in steel. Marketed “at the price of gold”, as the advertisements of the time specified!
There is a before and following Royal Oak in the history of modern watchmaking, say specialists. Its advent, which did not meet any of the traditional codes of time measurement, will indeed move the lines. To design the octagonal case of the Royal Oak armored with eight screws, designer Gérald Genta confided that he was inspired by a diver’s helmet and its bolts. A challenge all the more daring asAudemars Piguet was a very old fine watchmaking factory.
The independent family business, however, continues to make audacity one of the fundamental cogs of its identity. The proof with the RD#4, an ultra-complicated automatic watch, crowned last November at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix. This annual ceremony awarded it the Aiguille d’Or, which rewards the most impressive timepiece in all categories. A feat of engineering and watchmaking know-how, the RD#4 mechanism has nearly a thousand components and powers twenty-three complications in an ultra-contemporary 18 ct rose gold case.
The Code 11.59 collection by Audemars Piguet now also seeks to appeal to women. Adapted to thinner wrists, its new diameter of 18 ct pink gold features an emblematic decoration of fine watchmaking: undulating guilloché work produced using a hand-operated guilloche tower. Automatic manufacture caliber, 60-hour power reserve. ©Audemars Piguet
The irremediably innovative spirit of the manufacture is further expressed in its collaboration with Matthew Williams, founder and designer of the alternative fashion brand 1017 ALYX 9SM. While imagining disruptive clothing, a mix of New York influences and subversive culture, this American favors the high quality of materials and details. For his very personal vision of the Royal Oak, he chose the absolute luxury of 18 ct yellow gold. A true (golden) bridge between the world of urban fashion and that of fine watchmaking, the collection boasts such a minimalist aesthetic that the chronograph model loses its counters! Only the hands remain which rotate at 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock on an elegant gold dial decorated with vertical satin-finishing. The counters also disappear on the Royal Oak Offshore chronograph, revised in yellow or white gold. It had become iconic on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wrist.
Under an apparent simplicity, the collection remastered by designer Matthew Williams benefits from the mechanical sophistication of three latest generation automatic calibers, specially created and equipped with a gold oscillating weight. The time is still in gold with the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet timepiece, which caused a sensation when it was launched in 2019. Revised in proportions better suited to feminine or thinner wrists, this one is adorned with a purple or ivory dial. A wave decoration, guilloché in the old style by the Swiss craftsman Yann von Kaenel, is punctuated with hundreds of tiny cavities allowing you to play with light and colors. A luxury and subtlety of details entirely characteristic of haute watchmaking.
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