Since time immemorial, man has been obsessed by the movements of the sun, moon and the stars; an obsession that Audemars Piguet was only too happy to cater to. Indeed, the Manufacture has an uninterrupted history of creating exceptional perpetual calendar watches that goes back to the company’s origins over 140 years ago.
Back in 2015, Audemars Piguet’s “new geometry in time,” heralded the release of their latest perpetual calendar. Encased within Gerald Genta’s most iconic creation, the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar was 41 mm, yet still extremely thin. This “enlarged” size allowed for the increase in overall aesthetics, which included a fresh take of the Royal Oak’s signature “Grande Tapisserie” dial design, as well as the balance and legibility of the perpetual calendar indications.
New to this perpetual calendar, however, was the addition of an outer chapter ring that shows the 52 weeks of the year indicated by a corresponding central hand. This feature continues to be of particular interest for international business executives who sometimes need to refer to the week number instead of a date.
Presented in either steel or 18K pink gold, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak “Quantieme Perpetuel” was powered by the Audemars Piguet 5134 calibre, which started life as the 2120. For the two millimeter increase in diameter, the Manufacture had to “reconfigure” the old workhorse to accommodate the larger case size, although the resulting 5134 calibre is just a mere 4.31 mm thick courtesy of a suspended barrel. Further, its 22K gold oscillating weight featured a Tapisserie motif that recalls the signature dial and is guided by a peripheral ring rolling on four ruby runners that reduces wear and friction. Best of all, the oscillating weight could be custom decorated upon request.
Just last year, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar greeted 2016 in a new suit. It had the same upgraded and upsized movement, the same slightly more complicated display, as well as the clearer, less cluttered dial. Yes, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in yellow gold reasserted its status as the universal emblem of unattainable wealth and beauty. Indeed, since the day man learned to extract it from the earth, gold has not only symbolized wealth and power, it has been its source, and last year, it was all over the Royal Oak.
This year, Audemars Piguet has deigned to enrich the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar line, yet again, this time with a full black version made of hand-finished black ceramic. Naturally, everything that made the 2015 and 2016 Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar models outstanding to begin with is back, only this time its been made virtually unscratchable. And because it makes the job of withstanding high temperatures and thermal shocks look like a walk in the park, it is consequently extremely resistant to ageing and weathering.
Unfortunately, mastering this type of material can be quite challenging. Numerous operations demanding extreme patience and skill are required to achieve a uniform, compact and ultra-hard material that can then be machined and hand-finished. And while it “only” takes six hours to machine, polish, hand-finish, assemble and control a typical stainless steel Royal Oak bracelet, it takes a full five times longer for its ceramic counterpart: approximately thirty hours to accomplish the same procedures for the black ceramic bracelet.
Still the “dark” result speaks for itself. Especially when coupled with a slate grey dial with its as-per-required Grande Tapisserie pattern that displays a photo realistic astronomical moon to effortlessly contrast with all the black components of the piece.
The new Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in black ceramic, representing the next chapter in Audemars Piguet’s perpetual story of time continuously unfolding.
