Le Brassus, 31 May 2024 – Following on the footsteps of the Royal Oak Selfwinding Rainbow Sets launched in 2022, the Swiss Haute Horlogerie manufacturer Audemars Piguet continues to explore highly creative settings. This year, the Manufacture presents two fully paved 41 mm Royal Oak Selfwinding models with a camouflage pattern that extends from the dial to the case and bracelet. The motif is made up of 861 baguette-cut gemstones in graduated shades of blue or in green, brown and black tones – an industry first. Each stone has been meticulously selected and custom cut to create a seamless harmony between the various components and result in an original mix of colours. Bringing together Haute Horlogerie and Haute Joaillerie in a creative dialogue, these timepieces open up new aesthetic possibilities for the brand.
An unprecedented camouflage design
Since its inception, the Manufacture has pushed the boundaries of the craft, pioneering avant-garde aesthetics with a variety of shapes, colours, finishing techniques and gemsetting. This year, it is exploring the creative possibilities of camouflage patterns, which made their debut at Audemars Piguet in 2018 on the rubber straps of Royal Oak Offshore models. While AP’s R&D department unveiled new polychrome materials with a similar motif[1] earlier this year, the Manufacture reinterprets this emblematic design once again, this time through gemsetting.
The camouflage of the two new 41 mm Royal Oak Selfwinding models is formed by 861 baguette-cut coloured gemstones that fully cover the case, bracelet and dial. While the first timepiece is adorned with graded blue sapphires and Swiss blue topaz (~ 44.32 carats), the second reference combines black sapphires, intense and light tsavorites and smoky quartz (~ 39.91 carats) to create harmonious shades of green, brown and black.
Finding the right stones, colours and contrasts, while meeting Audemars Piguet’s strict criteria for colour, clarity and quality, was a crucial step in the design of these two timepieces. Each gemstone underwent an intensive quality control process. After a rigorous selection made by the supplier, an additional check was carried out at Audemars Piguet to ensure overall harmony. Finally, the purity and gemmological nature of the stones were verified by an external laboratory.
“To create a harmonious camouflage effect that could be repeated throughout the watch, we carefully selected a variety of gemstones, including some rarely used in the watchmaking industry. The use of tsavorites, smoky quartz and black sapphires for the green timepiece and Swiss blue topaz combined with blue sapphires for the blue version allowed us to enrich the colour palette and achieve more subtle gradations. Finally, the invisible setting enhances the tone of each gemstone, giving the two timepieces volume and depth.”
Samira Ribeaucourt,
Gemmologist, Audemars Piguet
Art of invisible setting
To match the architecture of the Royal Oak case, bracelet and dial, the coloured gemstones were individually cut into baguettes of 179 different sizes, before being hand polished to present sharp and clear angles. The quality of the cut is as important as the intrinsic quality and clarity of the stones. Not only must they be loupe clean (i.e., no inclusions visible when examining the gemstone with a x10 loupe). Their lines and stepped facets must also be perfectly symmetrical and aligned to allow light to pass through.
The Manufacture chose the intricate technique of invisible setting for the dial, the bracelet links and some of the case elements.[2] Tiny grooves were delicately carved into the baguettes, which were then carefully snapped one by one into a hidden rail embedded in the gold component, using as little material as possible to give the impression that the stones are holding on their own. The complexity also lies in achieving seamless alignment – a painstaking task that requires extreme precision.
The dial alone is covered with 152 gemstones, cut in 28 different sizes – a technical feat given the thinness of the gold plate on which they are set. To give them pride of place, the hour-markers have been omitted, while the “Audemars Piguet” signature and the “Swiss Made” indication have been discreetly printed in white on the underside of the sapphire crystal.
The invisible setting influenced the entire fabrication process of the dial and bracelet links, from their construction and precise manufacturing to their finishing. The technical and gemsetting teams worked hand in hand through all stages of production to push creativity, while retaining the collection’s aesthetic codes and ensuring water-resistance, reliability, robustness and repairability.[3]
A latest-generation selfwinding calibre
The two timepieces are powered by Calibre 4309, the most recent selfwinding hours, minutes and seconds movement in this diameter developed by the Manufacture. The date indication has been left out to give pre-eminence to the gemsetting on the dial.
The movement is equipped with a patented mechanism that provides stability and precision when setting the watch. In addition, its generous 32 mm in diameter enables optimal timekeeping precision, while its power reserve of a least 70 hours is ideal for contemporary lifestyles.
The movement’s rhodium-toned 22-carat pink gold oscillating weight and its emblematic Haute Horlogerie decorations, such as Côtes de Genève, satin brushing, circular graining and polished chamfers, can be admired through the timepieces’ sapphire casebacks.
A legacy of high-jewellery timepieces
Since its inception, Audemars Piguet has collaborated with several prestigious jewellery brands, including Tiffany, Cartier, Oscar Heyman and Bvlgari to case its movements in unique Haute Joaillerie creations. From the late 19th century until the 1970s, the Manufacture often sold the movement and dial to the jeweller who took care of the external design of the watch and signed it before selling it through their network. Diamonds and coloured gemstones, such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires were frequently used to embellish women’s creations. Over time, gemstones were incorporated into a wide variety of designs.
The 1960s and 1970s saw the development of creative watches enriched with natural stone dials, including tiger’s eye, lapis lazuli, aventurine, grossular garnet, opal, onyx, ruby, amethyst and japser, to name but a few. These colourful dials were sometimes combined with other gemstones featured on the case and bracelet.
In the 1980s, the growing trend for watches with welded bracelets led Audemars Piguet to open its own jewellery workshop, run by a handful of experts. Although the brand continued to work closely with external jewellers, more and more of its gemset timepieces were created in-house. In the decades that followed, the Manufacture created expressive, one-of-a-kind jewellery watches, often accompanied by matching jewellery sets. These unique creations led to the development of Audemars Piguet’s Haute Joaillerie collection in 2013. With distinctive pieces such as the Diamond Trilogy (2015–2017) and the Sapphire Orbe (2019), this collection broke with traditional notions of gemset watches.
Far from being confined to these one-off Haute Joaillerie creations, gemsetting now permeates Audemars Piguet’s collections. While some timepieces feature a bezel set with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, amethysts or rainbow-coloured gems, to name but a few, others are entirely paved with diamonds or coloured stones, culminating in the launch of the Royal Oak Selfwinding Rainbow Sets in 2022. The two sets, available in 37 and 41 mm, are composed of ten white gold timepieces, each set with a different baguette-cut coloured gemstone to form a rainbow when placed side by side. Each watch contains some 800 stones of the exact same hue, all meticulously selected and custom cut to produce intense and pure colours.
Building on the Manufacture’s long heritage of high-jewellery watches, the two new camouflage Royal Oak Selfwinding timepieces continue to combine age-old techniques with ever more contemporary design, taking the art of gemsetting and watchmaking to new heights.
[1] Two prototypes in chroma ceramic and chroma gold were presented in March 2024 during the brand’s AP Social Club.
[2] Note, however, that the technique of closed setting has been used on the bezel, studs and crown of the different timepieces.
[3] The gemsetting of a watch influences its geometries and resistance as well as impacts its entire fabrication process.
“Seek Beyond.”
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Camouflage Green Technical Specifications
Ref. 15514BC.YY.1284BC.02
Functions
- Hours, minutes and centre seconds.
Movement specifications
- Selfwinding Calibre 4309
- Total diameter: 32 mm (14 lignes)
- Total thickness: 4.9 mm
- Number of parts: 225
- Number of jewels: 32
- Minimum power reserve guaranteed: 70 h
- Frequency of balance wheel: 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations/hour)
Case
- 18-carat white gold case and bezel set with a total of 132 baguette-cut gemstones (black sapphires, intense and light tsavorites and smoky quartz) (~ 10.48 carats),
- Glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback,
- Water-resistant to 20 m.
- Case thickness: 11.6 mm
Dial
- Dial set with 152 baguette-cut gemstones (black sapphires, light and intense tsavorites and smoky quartz) (~ 9.83 carats),
- White gold Royal Oak hands with luminescent material.
Bracelet
- 18-carat white gold bracelet set with 577 baguette-cut gemstones (black sapphires, light and intense tsavorites and smoky quartz) (~ 19.6 carats),
- AP folding clasp.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Camouflage Blue Technical Specifications
Ref. 15514BC.YY.1284BC.04
Functions
- Hours, minutes and centre seconds.
Movement specifications
- Selfwinding Calibre 4309
- Total diameter: 32 mm (14 lignes)
- Total thickness: 4.9 mm
- Number of parts: 225
- Number of jewels: 32
- Minimum power reserve guaranteed: 70 h
- Frequency of balance wheel: 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations/hour)
Case
- 18-carat white gold case and bezel set with a total of 132 baguette-cut gemstones (graded blue sapphires and Swiss blue topaz) (~ 11.17 carats),
- Glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback,
- Water-resistant to 20 m.
- Case thickness: 11.6 mm
Dial
- Dial set with 152 baguette-cut gemstones (graded blue sapphires and Swiss blue topaz) (~ 11.43 carats),
- White gold Royal Oak hands with luminescent material.
Bracelet
- 18-carat white gold bracelet set with 577 baguette-cut gemstones (graded blue sapphires and Swiss blue topaz) (~ 21.72 carats),
- AP folding clasp.
About Audemars Piguet
Audemars Piguet is the oldest fine watchmaking manufacturer still in the hands of its founding families (Audemars and Piguet). Based in Le Brassus since 1875, the company has nurtured generations of talented craftspeople who have continuously developed new skills and techniques, broadening their savoir-faire to set rule-breaking trends. In the Vallée de Joux, at the heart of the Swiss Jura, Audemars Piguet has created numerous masterpieces, testament to the Manufacture’s ancestral savoir-faire and forward-thinking spirit. By pushing the boundaries of what is possible and building bridges between different creative worlds, Audemars Piguet has been able to explore new horizons and build an inspired community. Seek Beyond. — www.audemarspiguet.com