Royal flush: it’s win-win for Audemars Piguet at SIHH 2018
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Audemars Piguet, one of the marquee names showing at this week’s SIHH Geneva watch fair, is on a roll. The Le Brassus brand has let fly with a barrage of launches, including more than a dozen variants on the original tough-guy watch, the Royal Oak Offshore, a design that was first shown 25 years ago and whose arrival sparked a seemingly unstoppable move towards ever larger watches.
The Royal Oak RD#2 Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin
But for 2018, the pick of the maison’s new collection is an ultra-slim version of the original Royal Oak, the revolutionary steel design that created the sports-luxe watch category in the first place.
Where the Offshore took the design into a testosterone heavy space, all technical cuts and edges, the RD#2 pushes the design into a more contemporary, less strident place with a barely-there case that houses a perpetual calendar movement within a mere 6.3mm height.
This is right at the limit of what’s possible with conventional materials, the problem being to keep the whole structure stiff, any flex would affect the working of the watch.
Impressive a feat as it is to fit such a complex mechanism within such slender dimensions, the real magic is in the way that Audemars Piguet masters the fine details – the precise angle of the polished facets on the bezel, the clean feel to what is an incredibly busy dial (there’s a moon-phase to go with the years, months, days and date displays). Beyond all that, the watch remains instantly recognisable – it’s a Royal Oak from any angle.
Audemars Piguet is not the first watch house to take sports-luxe in a super slender direction: Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo for one (a design that shares its origins in the mind of the great watch designer Gérald Genta, creator of the Royal Oak), but the RD#2 demonstrates the value of having that rare thing - a genuine masterpiece as a template to work on.
The Royal Oak RD#2 Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin
Audemars Piguet re-engineered the three-storey movement into a single level for its RD#2
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Audemars Piguet (opens in new tab) website and the SIHH website (opens in new tab)
-
Max Richter: ‘Visual art culture is wide open in a way that classical music, unfortunately, sort of isn't’
Hot on the heels of Max Richter’s new album, ‘Sleep: Tranquility Base’, and recently opened multi-arts haven in rural Oxfordshire, we speak to the acclaimed composer about creating a sonic antidote to complex times
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Discover all the Rolex watches released at Watches and Wonders 2023
Rolex unveils bold new additions to its iconic watch families
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Last chance to see: Brian Thoreen and Mario García Torres’ solo shows at Masa Gallery, Mexico City
Brian Thoreen and Mario García Torres’ solo shows (until 8 April 2023) inaugurate Masa Gallery’s permanent new home in the heart of Mexico City
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Classic watch designs to last a lifetime
When considering which watch design to invest in, disregard trends and consider classic pieces characterised by timeless design
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Browns and Mad Paris rethink Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
Watch customisation specialist Mad Paris has developed two new versions of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak for Browns
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Time for an eco-friendly watch?
Some of the more eco-friendly watch materials being embraced by sustainably-minded watchmakers include recycled steel, bioceramic and cork
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Boundary-breaking Chanel watch is tweaked for a new generation
The Boy.Friend Skeleton appeals to both men and women with its distinctive octagonal silhouette
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
On the button: Chanel's perfectly hidden timepiece
The ‘Mademoiselle Privé Bouton’ watch is everything but off the cuff
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Sound bite: Jaeger-LeCoultre’s contemporary art celebrates acoustic watches
Jaeger-LeCoultre and Swiss artist Zimoun have collaborated on an artwork to commemorate the 150 year anniversary of its first minute repeater
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Kengo Kuma’s studio for Grand Seiko sits in the shadow of Mount Iwate
The Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi takes the natural world as its inspiration
By Hannah Silver • Last updated
-
Bon appétit: we grab a bite to eat with Bell & Ross
Earlier this year, we met the founders of the watch marque for a catch-up at restaurant Oxté in Paris
By Caragh McKay • Last updated