Audemars Piguet reveals its “Stars & Heroes†at SIHH 2016
This year, merging avant-garde technology with over 140 years of savoir-faire, the Audemars Piguet Manufacture continues to push its watchmaking engineering and craft into ever more daring expressions of contemporary design, and gives birth to remarkable timepieces set according to its collection titled “Stars & Heroes”
Since its inception in 1875, Audemars Piguet has maintained its six indispensable values inculcated by its illustrious founders, Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet. These values – respect, integrity, exclusivity, inspiration, passion and sophistication – have guided the family-owned watchmaking company in cultivating excellence through its craft, complications and artisans, and therefore have led to the establishment of Savoir-Faire that is unique to this timeless and charismatic brand.
Now, in 2016, during the prestigious Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), the Swiss luxury watch brand unveiled an interesting suite of horological developments that highlights the disruptive ideas, independent attitude and savoir-faire that set Audemars Piguet apart as a dynamic force in watchmaking today. The Manufacture’s different thinking is illuminated in its “Stars & Heroes”, a series of designs that break the rules of horological tradition.
Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie
Borrowing the spotlight from Royal Oak Concept RD#1 launched last year, another star was born in the form of a minute repeater of superior acoustic intensity with a supremely clear, sustained tone: The Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie. Presented in a super-light titanium case, this exclusive production timepiece is precision-made to awaken sound. Not only does the open-worked dial reveal the visionary technology within, it also illuminates its extra-ordinary movement. Presented in a super-light titanium case, this exclusive production timepiece is precision-made to awaken sound. Featuring three new pioneering chiming sound developments that have become technological achievements and patented innovations, it brings unprecedented acoustic performance, exceptionally refined sound quality and the clear, harmonic tone of traditional pocket-watches to a contemporary minute repeater wristwatch. Moreover, the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie is not simply a striking watch but devised as a musical instrument. It has gongs that behave like guitar strings, hammers are like the guitar player’s fingers, gong stud is the guitar bridge, the internal soundboard spread beneath the movement is the body of the guitar, and the sound is amplified while the tone improved.
The Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie presents a newly developed case construction that prevents sound absorption, boosting amplification. In traditional minute repeater technology, the gongs are fixed to the mainplate. In the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie they are attached to a new device, a material spread beneath the movement that acts as a soundboard. Now, the gongs transmit vibrations directly to the soundboard – not to the mainplate. The technology functions like the upper body of a guitar. With the vibration-to-air system improved, sound quality, tone and amplification are richer.
In traditional chiming systems, when there is no quarter chiming sequence – for example, at 10.08 – there is a long silence between the hour and minute chiming sequences. In the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie, time spent waiting for the gongs to strike is reduced by up to 50 per cent. Furthermore, a security function prevents the user altering the time display while the striking mechanism is active, thus timing is improved.
The Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie looks as good as it sounds: A visionary timepiece with a gleaming, futuristic character. The 44mm case is architecturally constructed in super-light titanium, while the blackened mainplate is the backdrop for the steel of the high-tech regulator. Not only does the open-worked dial reveal the visionary technology within, it illuminates the true essence of this extraordinary timepiece: The movement. Decorated by hand, it is bevelled, polished, engraved and finished to perfection by the artists of Le Brassus.
Such a remarkable timepiece, it functions as a minute repeater on two gongs, tourbillon, chronograph with central sweep-seconds hand, 30-minute counter, hours and minutes. Its fascinating look is brought by its satin-brushed open-worked black dial with black counters, white gold hands with luminescent coating and black inner bezel. Finished off with black rubber strap with titanium AP folding clasp, the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie is indeed another Audemars Piguet masterpiece.
Royal Oak Yellow Gold
Launched in 1972, the Royal Oak was the first luxury watch to break with the gold standard in favour of stainless steel. This year, Audemars Piguet has defied convention (again) by bringing luxury watchmaking’s most elemental material back to the surface, pushing tradition towards new sources of creativity. The new collection of Royal Oak watches and chronographs glows with the universal emblem of beauty, energy and light – the solar energy of yellow gold.
One of the key models under this collection is the Royal Oak Perpetual housed in an assertively sized 41mm yellow gold case. Wrapped in 18-carat yellow gold strap, the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar combines yellow gold with the most classic complication in all of watchmaking. Day, date, month, astronomical moon, with the week of the year displayed on the dial’s outer chapter ring and the essential leap year indication hold pride of place on the “Grande Tapisserie” decorated dial. The new lighter blue of the dial harmonises beautifully with the warm yellow of the 18-carat gold case, hour-markers and luminescent hands. The self-winding watch’s new larger calibre 5134 is fully visible through the glare-proofed sapphire crystal case back.
Also under the yellow gold fashion, Audemars Piguet presents the Royal Oak Chronograph that is powered by the Audemars Piguet self-winding calibre 2385 – this three-counter chronograph energises the original Gerald Genta design from the early 70s. The 41mm case houses a “Grande Tapisserie” dial in either silvery white or in the new paler blue, an angled date display at 4 o’clock, small seconds at 6 o’clock, yellow gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating.
The new Royal Oak Self-winding – conceived along the refreshed lines of 2012’s 40th anniversary model – boasts a 37mm case in 18-carat yellow gold and a silver-toned or blue dial in finely wrought “Grande Tapisserie”. The new lighter blue of the dial harmonises beautifully with the warm yellow of the gold case, hour-markers and luminescent hands. The inner workings and engraved gold oscillating weight of the calibre are visible through the glare-proofed sapphire crystal caseback.
Meanwhile, the glow of gold in the new Royal Oak Quartz 33mm edition is accentuated by the glittering 40 brilliant-cut diamonds (0.73 carats) on the bezel, and the “Grande Tapisserie” pattern on the dial. Additional signature codes are also in place: 18-carat yellow gold case, yellow gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating.
Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Open-worked
Openworking — also known as skeletonisation — involves cutting away material to reveal the mechanical artistry contained within. It is among the most exacting performances in watchmaking: Cutting too much can jeopardise tolerances or affect shock resistance. Achieving the right balance between the beauty of the revealed components and the safeguarding of their performance and precision is a rare art. Audemars Piguet has been a master of this indescribably intricate process since the 1930s.
Today, it performs it in precisely the same manner: Filing, decoration and finishing exclusively done by hand. The reasons for this are both aesthetic and technical. For example, a milling machine produces perfectly acceptable rounded angles, but it cannot produce the perfect interior angles (or v-cut angles) that so superlatively reflect light, expressing the artistry of Haute Horlogerie.
The newly launched Royal Oak Double Balance wheel Openworked tackles these stabilising issues by fixing a second balance wheel and balance-spring assembly on the same axis. The new “Dualbalance” patented geometry involves a very complex manufacturing procedure, but the payoff is huge: greatly improved precision and stability. This is not only a new world-first, it is also an imposing combination of art and architecture, which is why Audemars Piguet has fully open-worked the movement to reveal this two-fold beauty from both sides of the watch.
Available in stainless steel or pink gold, with slate-grey dial and pink gold applied hour-markers, the Royal Oak Double Balance wheel Open-worked offers unencumbered viewing through the open-worked front and the glare-proofed sapphire crystal case back. Front or back, the breath-taking views draw the eye repeatedly over the course of a day: Sometimes, to register the time indicated by the luminescent hands, but more often just to watch the dance contained within.
Powered by the self-winding Manufacture calibre 3132, this outstanding watch has minimum guaranteed power reserve of 45 hours and water resistance to 50 metres. The stunning work of engineering is offered with stainless steel bracelet and 18-carat pink gold strap that comes with the signature AP folding clasp.
