On 19th October 2022, Audemars Piguet goes crazy with a new collection of their famous Royal Oak watches.
Two unprecedented 37mm and 41mm white gold Royal Oak Selfwinding of the “traditional” rainbow watch to celebrate the Royal Oak’s 50th anniversary of design innovation. The manufacturer has reinvented not only one piece but came out with ten different timepieces, each of them fully covered in gemstones in red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple representing the rainbow.
The ten pieces also tell their own stories related to the unique qualities, colors and symbolism of their respective gemstones. The three “queens” of gems – ruby, emerald and sapphire – determine the color gradation. Tanzanite, yellow chrysoberyl, pink tourmaline, amethyst, blue topaz, orange spessartite and tsavorite were chosen for their vibrant color and purity to create a harmonious and expressive rainbow.
“With these sets available in two sizes, we went off the beaten track to create an unprecedented rainbow with ten bold timepieces, each decorated with a different gemstone. We selected some of the world’s purest and most vivid stones, including emeralds, rubies, tourmalines, tanzanites, tsavorites, chrysoberyls and spessartites. A challenge as we had to find some 800 gemstones per watch, all with the exact same color and the highest level of quality.” – Nathalie Barzilay (Audemars Piguet’s Head Gemmologist)
To match the construction of the Royal Oak case, bracelet and dial, the gemstones are individually cut into 179 different sized 41mm models and 153 different 37mm models and then hand-polished to present sharp, clear angles.
The impressive gem setting is not limited to these one-off jewelry creations but continues to permeate the Audemars Piguet collections today. Some timepieces have bezels set with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, amethysts or iridescent gemstones, while others are entirely set with diamonds or coloured gemstones to provide a unique iridescent effect and contrast. To emphasize the gem-setting on the dial, the 37mm and 41mm kits are powered by the Calibre 5909 and the Calibre 4309 respectively – two self-winding hours, minutes and seconds movements without a date display.
Credits: www.audemarspiguet.com
The watch retails for about $499,999 USD and is already available this month.