Earlier this year at SIHH, Audemars Piguet unveiled a watch that is the epitome of top-notch craftsmanship both inside and out: the Royal Oak Frosted Double Balance Wheel Openworked. For this watch, Audemars Piguet pulled out all the stops, combining one of the brand’s most beautiful and technically advanced calibres with a remarkable Frosted gold finish.
The Audemars Piguet Millenary Frosted Gold Opal Dial is my horological fantasy come true. Appealing on an aesthetic and technical level, the Millenary Frosted Gold Opal Dial wears its beating heart on its sleeve and plays with volume, texture, and light in a contemporary key. Feminine yet assertive, this Millenary model flies in the face of traditional women’s watches. As François-Henri Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet likes to say: “women’s watches shouldn’t be limited to shrinking, pinking and adding a few diamonds.” And, as you will see, there is absolutely nothing shrinky, pinky or diamondy about the Millenary Frosted Gold.
On the last day of SIHH 2018, Brice, Xavier and I sat down to list the best watches of this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. It’s been a good week, tiring though with 4-hour nights, however, the overall feel of this year’s SIHH was more positive than last years. Has the industry recovered from the crisis? If I have to judge based on the feeling of the fair, I’d say yes, but let’s await the numbers that will be published in half a year from now. First… we listed the best watches of SIHH 2018 for you in the video above.
When we received the whole bunch of novelties that AP was about to launch at the SIHH 2018 (and there was a lot), one watch set apart from the rest. Weird enough, this watch is far from being a true revolution. Not that the RD#2 isn’t a stunning development, but we were all, at the MONOCHROME redaction, focussed on this new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Thin 15202IP. Already stunning on the official images, we needed to see it in the metal. And boy, what a beauty it is.
Now that the big stress linked to the opening of SIHH 2018 is gone, it is time for us to look at less important novelties. Alongside the RD#2 (the thinnest automatic QP ever), Audemars has many other watches to show in the 2018 collection, including this one, a new version of the Royal Oak Chronograph with a smoked slate grey dial. Nothing revolutionary here, just a cool looking watch – but not for every pocket though.
Audemars Piguet will bring a fresh burst of colour to SIHH 2018, with the unveiling of three new Royal Oak Extra-Thin Tourbillon models. We’re profiling two of them here for you today, one in classic steel and the other in 18ct pink gold. All changes are purely aesthetic and as far as we’re aware, neither will be limited editions, although we imagine production quantities will be relatively low to maintain the exclusivity of these pieces.
As all industries, the watchmaking world is subject to trends. One that we’re not unhappy to see resurfacing is ultra-thin watches. Piaget opened the show in December with the thinnest automatic watch, followed at the SIHH 2018 by the thinnest mechanical ever created (2mm thick, no less). It is now time for Audemars Piguet to come on board and demonstrate, if ever necessary, that they know a bit about watchmaking. Here is the Royal Oak RD#2, which at a staggering 6.30mm thick is the thinnest self-winding perpetual calendar on the market today.
As we told you in our previous video, our main focus this year for SIHH 2018 will be videos. This is the best way to show you what is about to be launched and how the watches looks like in the metal. Nothing works best than images and words, and to start with this SIHH series of videos, we have François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet, who exposes the brand new collection.
As the modern incarnation of the very first luxury-sports watch created in 1972, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Thin 15202 needs no introduction anymore. Its octagonal shape, its screwed bezel, its integrated chain-like bracelet, its extra-thin automatic movement, its finely guilloched blue dial… Everything in this watch is iconic. Well, for the SIHH 2018, there’s a new version, and don’t be fooled by the familiar look, it has much more secrets than you would expect at first. Please meet the Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Thin 15202IP – and yes it is titanium and it has a superb and unprecedented smoked blue dial.
Now it makes zero sense to compare the very first luxury sports watch to the very latest in this desirable segment, at least not from a consumer’s perspective (the vintage AP RO Jumbo is of course not for sale anymore.) However, it does, when looking at if and how the luxury sports watch segment has developed over the past 4.5 decades. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ref. 5402ST was introduced in 1972, and the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Automatic was introduced in 2017. Forty-five years, only a handful of competitors in all those years and only one serious competitor survived: the Patek Philippe Nautilus. But will the new Bulgari become a serious competitor for the uncrowned king of the luxury sports watches?