Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

Such is the enigma of Audemars Piguet that it can hew to the most traditional perpetual calendar constructions and house them in a watch that, four decades after it was introduced, is still among the most contemporary looking on the market. The redesigned movement inside the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is a straight-up classic lever design with pusher correctors. The love for traditional mechanisms is perhaps stronger in the Vallée de Joux than anywhere else in Switzerland, so that even when updated two years ago, the company did not pursue any significant redesign of the perpetual calendar functions. Rather, the module was operationally and aesthetically refined for placement in the company’s latest models. Audemars Piguet has no such compunction about the exterior. The latest Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, introduced this year and executed in black brushed and polished ceramic, is a masterpiece of modern habillage. The difficulty of precisely fitting together components, which undergo shrinking during the fabrication process, cannot be understated, and makes a nice companion point to the hand adjustment required by the traditional movement.

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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

Photo: Courtesy Audemars Piguet