Audemars Piguet's latest ode to '50 years of the Royal Oak' embraces a terrifically simple aesthetic that belies its many ambitious mechanical complexities
Over the past week, we’ve been hard at work canvassing the new releases to come out of Watches & Wonders 2022 (watch our most recent coverage on socials); but, on Day 5 of the global watch industry’s flagship trade show, our founder Austen Chu swapped the cavernous confines of the Palexpo convention centre for snow-capped forests in the Vallée de Joux – all to bring you the first look at Audemars Piguet’s brand-spanking-new RD#3.
In conversation with Michael Friedman, Head of Complications and Lucas Raggi (fondly known as AP’s ‘R&D King’), Austen discovers the genesis of the latest ‘Research and Development’ release. Among a host of intriguing reveals, the duo outlines the technical challenge of minituriasing a flying tourbillon and explains how the RD#3 marries tradition with the avant-garde in celebration of the Royal Oak’s 50th anniversary. (I’d highly recommend watching the full interview, included below.) In the meantime, let’s walk through a few of the key takeaways associated with this new drop.
As watch enthusiasts around the world will no doubt be aware, 2022 is an important milestone in the ever-unfolding tale of the Royal Oak. Five decades ago, AP enlisted designer Gérald Genta in the creation of (what I think we can all unironically agree to be) one of the most influential wristwatches of the 20th century. Earlier this January, the company had revealed that it would be marking this milestone with a trio of Ref. 16202s: in essence, the most modern evocation of the classic Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’, replete with a new movement to replace the long-running Caliber 2121.
However, in consummate fashion, AP wasn’t content to leave the commemorative festivities there; and so, almost five years ago, took up the challenge of working on a project that runs tangential to the new 16202 – albeit one emphasizing micro-mechanics and the hotly contested specialty of extra-thin form language.
Even in press images, the overwhelming sensation is of a Royal Oak that is subtle yet significant. Calipers in hand, you’ll notice that the RD#3 measures 39mm in diameter and 8.1mm in thinness – identical to the dimensions utilized in the first, iconic Ref. 5402 Jumbo. That, in and of itself, is wild: the act of incorporating a tourbillon (one of high watchmaking’s most space-sensitive complications) into a format no larger than the traditional time-and-date raises a host of technical questions; and that’s even before you get to the specific constraints of the RD#3, such as its inclusion of a rotor and use of ‘flying’ suspension for the tourbillon cage.
This dizzyingly intricate development curve is all in service of a product that feels (and we’d wager) wears understated – and that’s good news indeed. Much like its predecessor, the enduring achievement of the RD#3 is of a technical nature; and here, AP have underscored that in pitch-perfect fashion with aesthetic cues that are pure, elegant and resolutely undisturbed by trend.
To that end, the design language is very much what we’ve come to appreciate about the archetypal Jumbo: the dial remains decorated in the signature blue tapisserie motif; while the octagonal case and bracelet throw a floodlight on AP’s best-in-class reputation when it comes to finishing. What’s more, the company has used this release to announce a further 37mm RD#3 – giving collectors an even more meaningful assortment of choices, as to how they take their tourbillon.
