Of the holy trinity brands, Audemars Piguet has always been the most adventurous, pushing the boundaries of design and fashion while maintaining the high horology excellence that the brand’s reputation is built on. Few watches better capture the AP philosophy today than the Royal Oak Perpetual reference 25686RP with a pink mother of pearl dial and two tone platinum and rose gold case and bracelet. Released towards the end of the 20th century, this watch foreshadowed so much of what we have come to know and love from Audemars Piguet in the 21st century.
History
While it’s easy to write off AP as the “Royal Oak brand”, AP didn’t achieve its holy trinity status for being a one hit wonder. Founded in the heart of the Swiss watchmaking industry in the Vallee de Joux in 1875, Audemars Piguet quickly distinguished itself by creating its own complicated movements from the ground up. Soon the brand progressed to building complete pocket watches to fuel a rapidly growing customer base.
The future for Audemars Piguet changed dramatically in 1972, when the brand released the Royal Oak. Unlike anything the industry had seen before, the Royal Oak challenged a number of norms. First, the luxury piece was executed in the most “lowly” of materials— stainless steel. Furthermore, this stainless steel, industrial-inspired design was more expensive than many precious metal dress pieces from AP and other competitors. The Royal Oak marked a paradigm shift not only for AP, but for the industry, changing the definition of what luxury looked like with wrist watches.
While today Audemars Piguet is certainly heavily invested in the Royal Oak, the brand has used the collection as a way of making complications available to a completely different customer than the more buttoned up clientele attracted by Patek and Vacheron. In many respects, the highly complicated, playful watches of the 21st century of AP are perfectly introduced by the late 90s Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar with a pink mother of pearl dial. It’s hard to find a piece that is more Audemars Piguet.
Design Details
While this Royal Oak Perpetual is built upon the Royal Oak foundation, it is complete with a whole host of details that distinguish it from a run of the mill Royal Oak. This piece is really all about materials. The case is constructed in an unconventional two tone combination— rose gold and platinum. Both the center link connectors of the bracelet and the bezel are fashioned from platinum, while the body of the case and primary bracelet links are rose gold. Details continue to the dial, which is made from pink mother of pearl. Additionally, the indexes are set with small diamonds instead of conventional hour markers.
What makes this design so intriguing is the pairing of an industrial, sporty design with colors and finishes you’d find on a more delicate piece. Pink mother of pearl and diamonds combined with a Royal Oak is sort of a brilliant oxymoron. I think that really complements the overall character of the Royal Oak as a luxurious sports watch. This particular configuration was limited to only 25 examples.
In addition to the finishing and material considerations, this piece is comfortably sized at 39mm. This sizing works for the largest number of wrists, and for a complicated sports watch, it’s really nice to have a sub 40mm option available. Furthermore, the piece is only 9mm thick, a proportion more akin to a dress piece than a sports watch. These dimensions make for a really enjoyable wearing experience.
In the 21st century, AP has really pushed the envelope in terms of what a high horology watch brand can do. They tested the market’s limits for design, fashion, flash, and refinement, constantly balancing these priorities with tradition and historical precedent. Although AP’s most “rebellious” designs have come in the last 20 years, I think the look of this perpetual calendar makes it perhaps a metaphorical progenitor to 21st century AP. While this may not be for everyone, for the AP enthusiast who appreciates Audemars Piguet’s approach to design in the modern era, this watch will be a slam dunk.
Inner Workings
Much like the story of the dial, the movement of this watch has a dual personality. On the one hand, you have a really traditional automatic-winding movement architecture with the caliber 2120. On the other hand, the movement itself is fashioned from gold, and features a skeletonized central winding rotor.
The 2120 itself is a notable movement. Co-developed with Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin, the Audemars Piguet 2120 was for many many years the world’s slimmest automatic winding movement. To gain more purchase on the winding in the absence of a thicker rotor, AP placed the rotor on ruby bearings. The 2120 is one of the most widely utilized high horology movements, and speaks to AP’s history in a subtle way.
From a technical standpoint, the 2120 affords 40 hours of reserve, and powers the full perpetual calendar, including leap year, month, day, date and moonphase.
Personality
The collector that gravitates toward this Royal Oak is a very particular type of enthusiast. They likely want to always wear a watch that makes a statement, tells a story, or stands out from the crowd. The bold look of this AP will certainly achieve this effect, and pushes beyond the look of a typical Royal Oak or Royal Oak perpetual calendar. The presence of the perpetual complication suggests that this collector does appreciate high horology, AP’s history, or the mechanical complexity of a complication of this kind.
One of the most noteworthy aspects of this watch was its choice of materials, and I’d hope that the collector that ends up with this piece appreciates this facet of the watch. Likely, this collector is not a newcomer, and understands just how special the platinum and rose gold combination, coupled with the pink mother of pearl dial, truly is.
Versus the Competition
When looking for alternatives to the AP Royal Oak Perpetual 25686RP, I think the best place to look first is to AP’s own more recent archive. Specifically, the Concept Tourbillon. I think the Concept Tourbillon in many ways reflects the continuation of the design philosophy foreshadowed with the Royal Oak Perpetual into the modern era. Like the reference 25686RP, the Concept Tourbillon makes use of interesting materials— titanium and black ceramic. Similarly, both watches feature sophisticated complications that pay tribute to AP’s history in high horology, yet both present those complications in a modern way. In the case of the perpetual, that was with the mother of pearl dial. For the Concept, this means an open-worked dial.
Next up is a piece that builds on the AP Royal Oak Perpetual’s multicolor quality. In place of the mother of pearl, the AP Royal Oak ‘Rainbow’ features 32 baguette cut sapphires in the gradient of the rainbow. The dial is no less striking with its paves and baguette stick indexes. Both watches will make a statement, although, surprisingly, the Royal Oak Perpetual is probably more subtle (although this is purely relative).
Finally, I’d like to suggest a scaled-back version of a similar design philosophy, but from one of AP’s competitors. The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Perpetual Calendar reference 4300V comes with a skeleton dial variant that is incredibly special. The Overseas format is extremely slim on the wrist, and is a bit less known than the Royal Oak. I think if you like a modern integrated bracelet design that’s more under the radar, this is the way to go.
Final thoughts
The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar reference 25686RP is an excellent representation of what Audemars Piguet is all about. While the look of this piece isn’t for everyone, it never was intended to be. The union of a classic high horology complication with an extremely modern execution makes this the ultimate watch for the lover of complications that doesn’t want something so serious.
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