Together with long-time partner Ali Bin Ali Luxury, Audemars Piguet is presenting its line-up of 2022 Royal Oak novelties in Qatar for the first time during the 18th edition of Doha Jewellery & Watches Exhibition taking place from 9 to 13 May. Celebrating the collection’s 50-year anniversary, the new offering builds on the unique legacy of this timepiece that has made waves and pushed boundaries since it was first released in April 1972. Over the years, the Royal Oak gave rise to a full-fledged collection with new sizes, materials, styles and movements, turning this iconoclast into a cultural icon within and beyond watchmaking.
The 2022 offering brings the Royal Oak collection to new creative and technical dimensions with an array of refined aesthetics, materials, dial animations and latest generation movements. For the occasion, the Manufacture has also created a special anniversary oscillating weight featuring the “50-years” logo. This dedicated oscillating weight, matched to the colour of the case, can be admired through the sapphire casebacks of Royal Oak anniversary models throughout 2022.
The new generation of 39 mm Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin models, revealed at the beginning of the year, counts amongst the highlights. While this timepiece has retained the aesthetics of the original model designed by Gérald Genta, it is now powered by a new selfwinding extra-thin movement, Calibre 7121, bringing increased performance, reliability and contemporary movement design to the collection.
Another notable turning point for the Royal Oak collection is the introduction of the Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Extra-Thin – the Manufacture’s first ever flying tourbillon housed in a 39 mm extra-thin “Jumbo” case. Audemars Piguet’s engineers and watchmakers took on numerous challenges in order to accommodate this complication – previously reserved for 41 mm diameters – into the smaller volume of a “Jumbo:” a first for the Manufacture and one of the rare examples in the watch industry as a whole. Given the extra-thin nature of the form language, this selfwinding flying tourbillon had to be creatively rethought to reduce the thickness required to house this complication by repositioning certain components, while accentuating the aesthetic details of its architecture.
The Manufacture has also unveiled an array of new selfwinding hour, minute, second and date models in 37 mm as well as new 38 and 41 mm selfwinding chronographs, presenting slight evolutions in terms of case, bracelet and dial design to further the collection’s contemporary appeal.
It is this ability to constantly reinvent itself while retaining its essential aesthetics that has enabled the Royal Oak to reach the status of cultural icon within and beyond watchmaking. Only 50 years young, this collection promises many more surprises in the years and decades to come.
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