BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Audemars Piguet has been doing some interesting things to vary their Royal Oak collection lately. It’s clear to them that the Royal Oak has been keeping them going for most of the time, probably since it was first introduced in all honesty, and so they needed to do a few things to change that. Firstly, we got a brand new model range in the form of the Code 11:59 watches, a range which has since expanded and gotten better and better. Then, the Royal Oak range became more varied with even more standout models. Some of the most notable ones include their ‘superhero’ watches, the pairing they did with 1017 ALYX 9SM for better and for worse, and now this new piece, the Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon “Tamara Ralph”.
Tamara Ralph is an Australian-born haute couture fashion designer most notable for co-founding the London-based house Ralph & Russo. Ralph’s work includes dresses for Rihanna, Angelina Jolie, Meghan Markle, Beyoncé and more. Knowing what I know about Audemars Piguet (which isn’t everything, I’ll admit), they’re seemingly very interested in the very cutting edge of haute design, take a look at their hotel in Le Brassus and you’ll see what I mean. It makes sense, then, that Audemars Piguet chose to go in this direction with the Royal Oak Concept watch.
What we’ve got is a watch which is overtly fashionable. The sizing is 38.5mm x 11.9mm and it’s made of 18k pink gold which has a frosted appearance. So, it is possible for a man to wear this piece if they’re prepared to adjust their outfit for it. However, I suspect the ladies will be more interested in this one, especially with the gold-colour leather strap, which is unusual on a watch (a brown one is available, too). Water resistance is 20m, so yeah, this isn’t a sports watch at all.
The dial is very interesting with its multi-layer design combining tones of brown, bronze and gold; there’s also the sunburst finish, which flows perfectly over each layer. The pink gold hands (with applied lume) and the applied pink gold logo stand out, but not as much as the flying tourbillon, which has been topped with diamonds.
The tourbillon is a part of the hand-wound calibre 2964 which is on display around the back. This movement has a power reserve of 72 hours, a 3Hz beat rate and some glorious finishing, which we should expect from Audemars Piguet, of course.
This watch is limited to just 102 examples worldwide and has a price suiting its haute couture and haute horlogerie status, it’s $208,300. This makes it one heck of a gift, and given its appearance I expect we’ll see one or two of these on the red carpet this season.
