The Royal Oak Idea line has been Audemars Piguet‘s platform to showcase complicated calibers and cutting-edge supplies since its debut in 2002. Now for 2024, a brand new mannequin has joined the gathering: the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Idea Cut up-Seconds Chronograph GMT Giant Date watch in a cloth AP is asking Chroma Cast Know-how (CFT). To be clear, we’ve seen the Royal Oak Idea Cut up-Seconds Chronograph GMT Giant Date earlier than; the innovation right here is the fabric, which is a brand new coloured solid carbon with luminescent pigments.
In line with AP, it’s been eight years because it final launched a solid carbon watch. In reality, Audemars Piguet was the primary model to introduce solid carbon to watchmaking in 2007. It took 5 years of improvement for the in-house R&D crew to create the brand new CFT carbon, which isn’t solely mild but in addition proof against shocks, warmth, and humidity. Plus, CFT’s decrease resin content material interprets to it being not as scratch-prone as conventional solid carbon.
Nonetheless, the true magic of CFT is that it permits the carbon fibers to be coloured instantly (fairly than coloring the resin), and they are often organized as wanted, unlocking a slate of inventive choices. The carbon fibers are first reduce into small items, coloured with pigments, positioned in a mildew, and accomplished with resin. These operations are repeated to construct layers (like a lasagna), all the pieces is compressed to push out any air bubbles, after which cured beneath strain for ten hours to provide a color-patterned carbon block that may then be machined for six to eight hours. As anticipated, Audemars Piguet has patented the Chroma Cast Know-how manufacturing course of.
The CFT carbon case of the brand new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Idea Cut up-Seconds Chronograph GMT Giant Date watch, which measures 43mm in diameter and a meaty 17.4mm thick, contains blue luminescent pigments weaving by the fabric. That’s proper, the case’s fibers glow in the dead of night — a fairly cool impact that jogs my memory of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Evening. Topping the case is a black ceramic bezel, octagonal after all, and completed, as all the time, in a mixture of brushed and polished surfaces. The crown, caseback, and push-pieces are additionally crafted from black ceramic. The design language of the Idea fashions is a futuristic tackle the basic Royal Oak — curvier in silhouette to comply with the form of a wrist however angular in execution due to all of the faceted particulars.
Emphasizing the blue streaks of the case are the electrical blue particulars of the open-worked dial, specifically the three subdial rings, the interior tachymeter bezel, and the guidelines of among the multitude of arms. Like its predecessor, this new iteration combines a flyback chronograph, split-seconds chronograph, GMT, giant date, hours, minutes, and small seconds. The massive date is positioned at 12 o’clock with stencil numerals whereas the GMT subdial is at 3 o’clock, full with a day/evening indicator; it’s adjusted by urgent the crown’s coaxial push-piece to advance the hand by one hour.
On the other facet of the case at 9 o’clock is one other push-piece to both cease the split-seconds hand when essential or to make it meet up with the operating chronograph hand. The split-seconds wheel and two actuating clamps are seen by the show caseback, proper on the heart of the platinum oscillating weight, positioned beneath an X-shaped bridge holding them in place. The motion that makes all these capabilities attainable is the Caliber 4407, which debuted in 2023 and relies on AP’s new-generation flyback chronograph motion from 2019. The 638-component self-winding motion operates at 28,800 beats per hour (4 Hz) and provides a minimal of 70 hours of energy reserve.
The opposite blue element is the blue rubber strap with black particulars, furnished with a titanium folding clasp. AP gives a further black rubber strap with blue particulars, which could be simply swapped out by way of the interchangeability system.
No surprises right here, however the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Idea Cut up-Seconds Chronograph GMT Giant Date is exceedingly costly; it can retail for $206,800 USD. Is that an excessive amount of? With watch costs being the place they’re today, I’ve no clue anymore. However what I do know is that the brand new materials is fairly badass and the watch’s mechanics are not any slouches both. For extra data, please go to the model’s web site.