PUSHING THE ENVELOPE
With a world record under its belt, a new flying tourbillon and the Royal Oak Offshore’s 25th anniversary, Audemars Piguet has much to celebrate
THIS YEAR’S STUNNING assortment of novelties from Audemars Piguet caters to the wideranging needs of its equally diverse clientele. Topping the list are three new Royal Oak watches – the RD#2, the Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph and the Ladies Concept Flying Tourbillon – with unprecedented features.
The headlining Royal Oak RD#2, is the world’s thinnest self-winding perpetual calendar. Measuring just 6.3mm (2mm slimmer than the Royal Oak Extra-Thin Jumbo), it’s driven by a new 2.89mm automatic 5133 calibre equipped with central rotor. The product of five years of development, this watch offers a solution to the challenge surrounding perpetual calendars: how significantly to reduce heft from a typically modular movement, yet pack in the necessary components. Audemars Piguet’s solution was to return to the drawing board. By creating a new date wheel with specially constructed teeth and by utilising the dial as a main bridge, it successfully replaced the traditional movement construction of a perpetual calendar from three levels to one.
Meanwhile, the Royal Oak Offshore
Tourbillon Chronograph has undergone a facelift for its 25th anniversary. Inspired by the Royal Oak Offshore 26388 from 1993, its case now features a slimmer bezel to accentuate the eight hexagonal screws. The latter, in turn, highlight eight skeletonised bridges on the exposed movement from which the tourbillon and the pair of mainspring barrels can be admired. Available in a 45mm case of pink gold or stainless steel, each limited to 50 pieces, it runs on the 2947 calibre, an open-worked interpretation of the 2933.
The Ladies Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon is not only the first-ever ladies’ Royal Oak Concept timepiece, but also the first to feature the manufacture’s new flying tourbillon. Available in two iterations, these models marry the worlds of haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie. Presented in a 38.5mm white-gold case adorned with brilliant-cut or invisibly set baguette-cut diamonds, its skeletonised dial bears diamondset “icicles” and white lacquered embellishments to reference the wintry landscape of the Vallée de Joux – the birthplace of Audemars Piguet. Aside from the new flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock, an openworked barrel in the guise of a snowflake at 11 o’clock is certain to start the conversation.