Audemars Piguet Royal Oak

The Royal Oak is a luxurious sports watch by Audemars Piguet, and has now become the template of a whole, widespread watch range.

A product icon of modern times

File:Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Dual Time STb.jpg

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
Dual Time

The "Royal Oak" (named after a famous sailing ship of the British fleet) contributed significantly to the success and the reputation of the brand Audemars Piguet and — similar to the Oyster models of Rolex — can be counted to the product icons of modern times. Characteristic of this watch designed by Gérald Genta, which entered 1972 the market as "the world's first luxury sports watch", is the screwed, octagonal case and the integrated metal band. The "tapisserie" dial is another trademark of the watch and the brand. First, the Royal Oak was launched with the extra flat automatic calibre AP 2120, then with the calibre AP 2121, and now, the Jumbo variant of the watch is equipped with the calibre 3120.

File:Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph Tourbillon.jpg

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph Tourbillon

From the Royal Oak there are now a variety of variants available. Also continously new limited edition series are released, which conjugate the basic concept in many different ways. So, for instance, the Royal Oak Grande Complication offers the considerable number of the following additional functions: fly-back chronograph, week display, minute repeater and perpetual calendar with moon-phase indication. And with the Royal Oak Chronograph Tourbillon one ventured even to a tourbillon variant.

With the cases one also walks across the whole range of possibilities, from the stainless steel of the original model to yellow gold, rose gold and white gold, then to platinum, but also to new experimental materials such as carbon.

Also the masculine sports version of the Royal Oak, known as Royal Oak Offshore, became successful.

A product refresh in 2012 included the Ref. 15400 and the new Ref. 26300 chronograph (replacing the Ref. 25860) and larger 41 mm Ref. 26320 chronograph. The Royal Oak was refreshed in 2019 with the new Ref. 15500 41 mm base model (replacing the Ref. 15400) and Ref. 26315 38 mm Chronograph.

The Royal Oak line is one of the most celebrated watch designs in history. A Royal Oak has been selected for the prestigious Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève 6 times between 2001 and 2019, making it the most decorated watch in the history of that event. In 2019, the new Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin, Ref. 26586 won the grand prize ("Aiguille d'Or") and the "Jumbo" Extra-Thin, Ref. 15202 was selected for the "Iconic Watch Prize", cementing the model's success. This has pushed Audemars Piguet ahead of all other brands at the GPHG.

Basic Versions

• Original Extra-Thin "Jumbo"
• Mainstream "Mid-Size"
• Royal Oak Quartz (1980)
• Royal Oak Dual Time, dual time zone and 24-hours indication
• Royal Oak Chronograph
• Royal Oak Offshore (1993-)
• Lady Royal Oak Ref. 8638 (1976, 2004)
• Royal Oak Perpetual (1984-)
• Royal Oak Concept (2002-)
• Royal Oak Equation of Time (2010-)
• Royal Oak Grande Complication (1998-)
• Royal Oak Chronograph Tourbillon (2003)
• Royal Oak Tourbillon and Chronograph "Concept Carbon"

Key References

• Original Extra-Thin "Jumbo", 39 mm, 8 mm thick, no seconds hand
  • Royal Oak Ref. 5402 (1972-1990) - 39 mm, Cal. 2121 (The original Royal Oak from 1972)
  • Royal Oak "Jubilee" Ref. 14802 (1992-2000) - Cal. 2121 (20th anniversary model from 1992, display caseback)
  • Royal Oak Ref. 15002 (1990-1998) - Cal. 2121 (solid caseback)
  • Royal Oak "Jumbo" Ref. 15202 (2012-present) - Cal. 2121 (display caseback)
• Mainstream "Mid-Size", central seconds hand
  • Royal Oak "Mid-Size" Ref. 4100 (1977-1980s) - 36 mm, Cal. 2123
  • Royal Oak "Mid-Size" Ref. 14486 (1980s) - 36 mm, Cal. 2125
  • Royal Oak "Mid-Size" Ref. 14700 (early 1990s) - 36 mm, Cal. 2125
  • Royal Oak "Mid-Size" Ref. 14790 (1990s-2005) - 36 mm, Cal. 2225 (Also 14800 with strap)
  • Royal Oak Ref. 15300 (2005-2012) - 39 mm, 9.4 mm thick, Cal. 3120
  • Royal Oak "Selfwinding" Ref. 15400 (2012-2019) - 41 mm, Cal. 3120
  • Royal Oak "Selfwinding" Ref. 15500 (2019-present) - 41 mm, Cal. 4302
  • Royal Oak Ref. 15450 (2012-present) - 37 mm, Cal. 3120
• Specialty Models
  • Royal Oak Perpetual Ref. 5554 (1983) Cal. 2120/2800
  • Royal Oak Perpetual Ref. 25820 (1984) Cal. 2120/2802
  • Royal Oak Perpetual Ref. 25686 (1990s)
  • Royal Oak Annual Calendar Ref. 25920 (1990s)
  • Royal Oak Ref. 26579CE - Ceramic

Historic References

• Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Quartz
  • Royal Oak Quartz Ref. 6005 - rectangular, Cal. 2511
  • Royal Oak Quartz Ref. 67601 - 33 mm, Cal. 2713 (Also 67605/67620/67621/67625)
  • Royal Oak Quartz Ref. 67602 - 33 mm, Cal. 2712 (Also 67604/67606/67616/67617
  • Royal Oak Quartz Ref. 67651 - 33 mm, Cal. 2713 (Also 67652)
• Royal Oak Ref. 77220 - 33 mm, Cal. 2240
  • Royal Oak Ref. 77321 - 33 mm, Cal. 2240
• Royal Oak "Jumbo" Ref. 15154 - 39 mm, Cal. 2121
• Royal Oak Openworked Extra-Thin Ref. 15203 - 39 mm, Cal. 5122 (Also 15204)
• Royal Oak Ref. 15300 39 mm, Cal. 3120
  • Royal Oak Openworked Ref. 15305 39 mm, Cal. 3129
• Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ref. 25820 - 39 mm, Cal. 2120/2802 (Also 25829)
• Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 26252
• Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 25960 - 39 mm, Cal. 2385 (Also 25966/25967/25978)
• Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 26022 - 39 mm, Cal. 2385 (Also 26068)
• Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 26129 - 39 mm, Cal. 2385 (Also 26161)
• Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 26300 (2012-present) - 39 mm, Cal. 2385
• Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 26320 (2012-present) - 41 mm, Cal. 2385 (Also 26322/26325/26326/26327)
• Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 26315 (2019-present) - 38 mm, Cal. 2385
• Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 26557 - 39 mm, Cal. 2385
• Royal Oak Day & Date Ref. 26330 - 39 mm, Cal. 2325/2810
• Royal Oak Equation of Time Ref. 26603 (2010) - 42 mm, Cal. 2120/2808
• Royal Oak Grande Complication Ref. 25865 - 44 mm, Cal. 2885 (Also 26065/26222)
• Royal Oak Tourbillon Chronograph Ref. 25977 - 44 mm, Cal. 2889 (Also 26039/26116/26377)

Current References

• Royal Oak Quartz Ref. 67650 - 33 mm, Cal. 2713 (Also 67651/67652/67653/67654)
• Royal Oak Ref. 15450 - 37 mm, Cal. 3120 (Also 15451/15452/15453/15454/15456)
  • Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked Ref. 15466 - 37 mm, Cal. 3132 (Also 15467)
• Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-Thin Ref. 15202 - 39 mm, Cal. 2121 (Also 15203/15204/15205)
• Royal Oak Dual Time Ref. 26120 - 39 mm, Cal. 2329/2846 (Also 26124)
• Royal Oak Ref. 15400 - 41 mm, Cal. 3120 (Also 15402/15403/15410)
  • Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked Ref. 15407 - 41 mm, Cal. 3132
• Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 26331 - 41 mm, Cal. 2385
• Royal Oak Tourbillon Extra-Thin Ref. 26510 - 41 mm, Cal. 2924 (Also 26511/26512/26513/26514/26515/26516/26517/26518)
  • Royal Oak Tourbillon Hand-Wound Extra-Thin Ref. 26520 - 41 mm, Cal. 2924-Hand-Wound (Also 26521/26522)
• Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ref. 26574 - 41 mm, Cal. 5134 (Also 26579/26584)
• Royal Oak Tourbillon Chronograph Ref. 26343 - 44 mm, Cal. 2936 (Also 26347)
• Royal Oak Grande Complication Ref. 26552 - 44 mm, Cal. 2885
  • Royal Oak Openworked Grande Complication Ref. 26065 - 44 mm, Cal. 2885
• Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Extra-Thin Ref. 26586 - 31 mm, Cal. 5133

Literature

• Das ZEITGEFÜHL-Uhrenbuch; Author: Gerd-Lothar Reschke; ISBN 3-938607-61-0