SIHH 2010: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Equation of Time

The new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Equation of Time automatic wrist watch is the very first AP RO in all the 38 years of the model’s history to be presented with a perpetual calendar and equation of times, the astronomical complications usually reserved for “dressier” APs.

This is an interesting trend we are witnessing. Together with Officine Panerai, Audemars Piguet is the second major watchmaker to present an inherently sporty watch with astronomical complications that were always in the realm of more refined and elegant timepieces, like, say, the gorgeous Girard-Perregaux 1966 Annual Calendar and Equation of Time watch introduced exactly a year ago.

Either this is a completely logical development of the mechanical species in the Darwinian sense or is just another step towards their inevitable demise (do they stuff all these complications into brutal and simple chronographs because interest in them is waning?) only time will tell.

As for now, this is one of the most complicated AP Royal Oaks, which is powered by their famous AP 2120 base caliber.

Claimed to be world’s thinnest automatic movement with a central rotor, the caliber is also one of the most precise when it comes to perpetual calendars and moonphases. In fact, the movement is so accurate that you will have to correct the calendar only once: on March 1, 2100. The moonphase module is also accurate enough to require only one correction in 122 years and 44 days.

As to the rest of technical specs, it is a pleasure to not that the watch is delivered in a relatively compact case.

Available either in 18-carat rose gold (26603OR.OO.D092CR.01) or more affordable stainless steel (26603ST.OO.D002CR.01,) the body of the new timepiece is only 42 millimeters in width and less than 11 millimeters in height: a real breath of fresh air in the world where an automatic “sporty” timekeeper often measures more than 44 mm in diameter and at least 15 mm in thickness!

As for the pricing, the watch in rose gold is expected to sell at around $130,000, while the version in stainless still will set you back for some $100,000.

Wow.

Photos: Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Equation of Time watch specification

Price range: $100,000 in Stainless steel / $130,000 in Rose gold
Movement: AP 2120/2808, automatic, 423 parts, 41 jewels, 19,800 vph, 5.35 mm high, 28.4 mm in diameter
Complications: Perpetual calendar, date, leap year, month, day-of-month, moonphase, sunrise/sunset indicators at 3 and 9 o’clock
Power reserve: 40 hours
Case material: 18-carat Rose gold (26603OR.OO.D092CR.01) or Stainless steel (26603ST.OO.D002CR.01)
Bezel material: Rose gold or Stainless steel
Case shape: Round, Octagonal bezel
Transparent case back: Yes, sapphire crystal caseback
Case size: 42.0 mm
Case height: 10.45 mm
Dial: Silvered
Numerals: Arabic
Hands: Gold
Strap: Hand-stitched, crocodile strap with square scales, 18-carat pink gold or stainless steel AP folding clasp
Crystal: Sapphire, anti-reflection coated
Water resistance: N/A