Two New Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Flying Tourbillons With Dimpled Dials
As we were involved in starting our new year the right way, Audemars Piguet quietly released a pair of new Royal Oaks in what was a perfect way to start 2023. Audemars Piguet released the ref. 26730BC (white gold), and the ref. 26730OR (rose gold) in the first week of January.
The Swiss-based luxury watch manufacturer is one of the world's most famous watch brands, and its watches are known to be one of the best in the business. The Royal Oak is the face of the brand and is considered by many as the greatest watch in the world.
The story of the Royal Oak is quite amusing. Once, the company was about to be flooded away with the flood of the quartz crisis. With the help of Mr. Gerald Genta, the famous watch designer who also famously designed the Nautilus, Audemars Piguet launched the Royal Oak. The Royal Oak proved to be the best decision the company had ever taken. The famous watch elevated the brand from the midst of crisis to the top of the luxury watch market in no time.
Royal Oak has developed into a sensation over the years and is now among the best watches in the world. It is worn by many top professionals including famous music artists, athletes, and other popular personalities.
If someone asks you to describe a typical Royal Oak, you would probably say it has an octagonal case/bezel, integrated bracelet, and a Tapisserie dial. However, with such high popularity and demand, Audemars Piguet continues to freshen up things by releasing new iterations, and so once again, they have released two new Royal Oak timepieces. They have started the new year in a perfect manner, releasing two new models for their ultimate watch. The ref. 26730BC, and the ref. 26730OR, let's discuss it them detail, shall we?
THE TWO NEW AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK FLYING TOURBILLONS
Audemars Piguet continues to release flying tourbillons, basically a tourbillon cage with no upper cage. The new and most significant piece of news here is that Audemars Piguet has introduced a new dial pattern with the launch of these two watches.
This textured dial, which is referred to as a "dimpled pattern" by AP, is quite similar to something we had seen in the past when Audemars Piguet introduced a similar dial pattern with the Millenary Philosophique back in 2019.
One interesting rumor that spread is that a Japanese collector of AP who owned those Millenary watches wanted to see what the Royal Oaks would look like with those dials. Well, he can now see how they look.
Typically the "Audemars Piguet" logo is applied onto the dial, but in this case, as the surface is exceptionally textured, it would make it difficult to do the typical appliqué, and hence, the logo is printed. This has given these Royal Oaks a vintage "Jumbo" vibe. Moreover, the dimpled bezel is brushed in a circular pattern.
The "frosted" bezel is likewise hand-hammered with a small tool that allows AP to create similarly tiny dimples in the surface, giving a grainy look that shimmers with light. This produces a stunning effect. The rest of the case and bracelet use a similar combination of polished and brushed surfaces.
The ref. 26730BC is available in 18k white gold with a blue dimpled dial and an 18k white gold bracelet, while the ref. 26730OR is available in 18k rose / pink gold with a brown dimpled dial and an 18k pink gold bracelet. Both watches have cases that measure 41 mm in diameter and 10.6 mm in thickness. White gold applied markers are used in the white gold version, while the pink gold version has pink gold applied markers. Finally, to power up these gorgeous watches, AP Calibre 2950 is used, which comes with the function of a flying tourbillon and has a power reserve of 65 hours.
Conclusion:
Audemars Piguet has once again freshened up things by releasing the Royal Oak with a new dial. Freshening up things is really important to keep the hype around a product. Overall, this dimple pattern dial looks stunning with the Royal Oak.
