To honor its 40th anniversary, Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet has created a new addition to the iconic Royal Oak women’s collection of timepieces. Baroque Access has all the details
The new addition to Audemars Piguet’s women’s collection of Royal Oak timepieces is a brand new take on the classic design. Named the ‘Royal Oak Frosted Gold’, it was created together with Florentine jewelry designer Carolina Bucci and unveiled at a gala dinner in Florence. Alongside Ms Bucci was watch designer Jacqueline Dimier, who created the very first Royal Oak watch for women in 1976.
The commemorative timepiece features an 18-karat white or rose gold case that measures either 33 or 37mm. It includes an AR-coated sapphire crystal, and the 37mm version has a sapphire display back. But what makes the watch really special is the strap and the case, which have been treated to a special process that was inspired by an ancient gold hammering technique. This technique, which is also called ‘the Florentine technique’, was used by designer Carolina Bucci in previous jewelry designs. She then chose to adopt this technique for the new Audemars Piguet. And so the Royal Oak Frosted Gold timepiece was born.
In the new timepiece, Ms Bucci has kept the key traditional design traits of the original Royal Oak women’s watch. The result is a brilliant reinvention of the iconic design, a contemporary watch in a choice of white or rose gold with one defining feature – a technique that creates a frosted detail to the strap and the watch case, developed by experts at Audemars Piguet to suit this very special timepiece.
The ancient gold hammering or Florentine technique involves beating the gold with a special diamond-tipped tool to create tiny indentations on the surface of the strap and case. These indentations give a special sparkle effect that is similar to the shine of precious stones, almost like diamond dust.
The original Royal Oak timepiece was designed in 1972 by Gerald Genta, especially for men. Since its creation, the Royal Oak has become one of the most famous and instantly recognizable watches in the world. It was only four years later, in 1976, that Jacqueline Dimier designed the first women’s Royal Oak watch. And now, on the 40th anniversary of this distinctive timepiece, we have a new woman’s Royal Oak timepiece, with a magnificent frosted gold finish. These new timepieces maintain the Royal Oak’s general design and feature a stunning silvered tapisserie dial with center date and seconds. While the 33m watches are quartz movement, the 37mm is automatic. But it’s the magnificent hammered gold effect of the strap and the case that makes this watch stand out from the crowd.
These magnificent new women’s timepieces will be released at Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Genève (SIHH) in January 2017. Prices have yet to be released.