An easily identifiable status symbol,the Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet replica watch is celebrating its fifty years of good and loyal service this year.
For the occasion,it seemed essential to look back on its turbulent history before looking at the new collection,
reworked to give a rejuvenated dynamic to references that have all become both”status symbols”and recently,real financial investments..
In authoritative circles and collector circles, the Royal Oak is said to be an inspired reference
arriving at the right time with the right design in watchmaking history.
Designed by Gérald Genta in order to expand the range of the small family watchmaking house specializing in the manufacture of timepieces with complications,
this watch launched on April 15,1972 was initially designed to tackle the very buoyant environment of golden youth.
fresh out of school after expressing their desire to see the world change on the barricades of May 1968.
Contrary to what one often reads,
the Swiss replica watch market remained flourishing in the early years of the“seventies”and until around 1975-1976.
During the first months of this new”Power Flowers”decade,
three distributors of the Audemars Piguet factory pointed out that the brand’s collections lacked a reference in steel,
a material very clearly in keeping with the spirit of the times.
Georges Golay,then the brand’s managing director,overheard and analyzed this”field”feedback and then entrusted the young designer Gérald Genta with the task of proposing a design for a sport-chic,modern and fine steel watch.
The artist,keen to inscribe his creation in the trend of the time and in the creative logic of the sponsoring brand renowned for offering timepieces with original designs,
designed this new model whose code name is 5402,using geometric shapes with powerful lines.
In the end,the drawing of this brand new piece–done in gouache overnight!–which will bear the name of Royal Oak marks a break in the universe where most of the other novelties of the time do not have this modernity carried by an inspired and minimalist design.
Royal Oak:the genesis of an icon
Appearing in the brand’s catalog in April 1972 after its presentation at the Basle sample fair,
this steel watch,which immediately positioned itself as the most expensive in the world in steel,
aims to reach an audience of young wealthy people wishing to stand out.
with the help of their timepiece which is already,in privileged circles,a tool of social differentiation.
It is reported that his arrival created a real earthquake in the profession.
It’s very exaggerated,especially since the critics have rather crushed this elitist model,then considered too expensive for what it offers and above all irrelevant since it is sporty only in its metal and its bracelet.
What’s more,the company that we know at the time was more accustomed to delivering complicated replica watch in very small quantities is struggling to release this model that the legend would like to be complex to produce when the problem comes rather from the supply linked to a significant under-contracting(Stern for the Petite Tapisserie guillochédials–Favre&Perret for the case and Gay Frères for the integrated steel bracelet).
It is reported that for 1972,490 pieces are sold,
which represents a record for Audemars Piguet whose production volumes were until then among the smallest in the profession.
For 4 years,the brand only manufactured the reference 5402 in order to be able to meet demand.
However,the House embarked on the production of a women’s model in 1976 which,designed by Jacqueline Dimier,was then 29 mm in diameter and bore the reference 8638.
The following year,two subtly revisited pieces were launched in yellow gold and white gold and a version in yellow gold and steel.
An intermediate 35 mm product was also launched under the reference 4100,which therefore established itself as the best seller,the trend being for men’s watches of intermediate size.
Throughout the period corresponding to that of the quartz crisis,the Royal Oak will continue its way.
The light industrial structure,the independence of the old groups and the close ties that unite the brand to its subcontractors allow it to move on to quartz without too much difficulty.
A bit like Patek Philippe and Rolex whose strategic choices of insisting that mechanics are a hold of tradition in a hypermodern world,allows them to survive in a changing sector.
The Royal Oak between Eighties and Nineties
In addition to daring a few“baroque”variations,Audemars Piguet leaned between 1978 and 1988 on the development of quartz models.
In the end,59 references of all sizes will be produced.
Then,towards the middle of the“Eighties”,it was in the sector of complications that the Royal Oak made a breakthrough.
In 1983,when the first Swatch was released,the manufacture launched the 36 mm diameter Royal Oak with date(ref.5572).
The following year,it offered a Royal Oak first in steel,then a gold and steel version with a perpetual calendar.
In 1986,a yellow gold version followed with a skeletonized caliber(ref.25636).
In 1992,reference 14802,the 39 mm Royal Oak“Jumbo”featuring a sapphire caseback for the first time,celebrated the success of the most modern replica watch of its generation.
The first Royal Oak,36 mm in diameter,on a leather strap,designed by designer Jörg Hysek(ref.
14800)and the famous Royal Oak Offshore,appear concomitantly.
This robust 42 mm diameter reference designed by Emmanuel Guelt foreshadows the stylistic orientations taken a decade later.
Alongside these products,a line dedicated to women is being developed.
In addition to the skeletonized pieces,there are high jewelry models from 1998.
And because the subject would be incomplete without mentioning it,
the Le Brassus manufacture launched in 1997 a 20 mm mini Royal Oak driven by a quartz caliber.
In 1997 the Royal Oak Tourbillon was offered in an edition of 25 steel pieces for the 25th anniversary of the collection,
alongside a series of 5 watches measuring 40 mm in diameter in yellow gold,pink gold and platinum.
This launch is associated with that of the first chronograph in the family(ref.25860)in 39 mm diameter and the first Royal Oak Grande Complication.
With its 44 mm diameter,this piece offered in white gold houses a minute repeater,a perpetual calendar and a split-seconds chronograph.
At the turn of the millennium,i.e.
in 28 years of good and loyal service,
the Royal Oak will have been available in nearly 300 variations,including 200 during the“Nineties”.
The Revolution of the Third Millennium
The transition to a new era justifies the launch of a new generation of Royal Oak.
It arrives under the reference 15202 and is 39 mm in diameter.
The piece regains a sapphire caseback and is adorned with a new Grande Tapisserie dial,which appeared the previous year.
At the time,this replica watch was on a par with new generation products.
This does not prevent the manufacture from exploring new territories.
In 2002,the Manufacture jointly unveiled the first Royal Oal Concept and the Royal Oak Tradition d’Excellence,
which was part of a collection of timepieces with complications,
all produced in 20 pieces and intended to form part of an inlaid cabinet where all horological complications are brought together.
At the same time,the Royal Oak is embodied through limited editions developed in collaboration with celebrities and renowned sportsmen.
In 1990,the first was thought up by Nick Faldo,the golf champion.
Then comes the Royal Oak City of Sails,produced to celebrate the partnership with Alinghi(1999):a profitable association that allowed the Royal Oak to go from the status of a luxury watch to an identity reference,a symbol of success.
This was followed in 2008 by the Royal Oak Sachin Tendukar and the Oak Leaves series designed in collaboration with Michelle Yeoh.
In 2012,on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Royal Oak,Audemars Piguet,
the reference 15202“Jumbo”was presented at the same time as a skeleton version driven by the new caliber ref.5122.
A Royal Oak Tourbillon Extra-Plat(ref.26510)with manual winding(in steel and pink gold)follows.
Driven by a refined aesthetic,in 2016 the house launched the majestic Royal Oak Double Balancier Skeleton.
Proposed in 41 mm,it is then available in 37 mm and in a wide variety of materials including black ceramic.
The era also saw the launch of the Royal Oak Calendar Perpetual Automatic Ultra-Thin(26586).
Celebrating half a century of perfection
With more than 80%of its turnover(1.5 billion Swiss Francs),
achieved thanks to replica watch from the Royal Oak collection,the Manufacture in Le Brassus can pay homage to him.
And that’s what she’s doing on her fiftieth birthday this year.
We know in advance that all the Royal Oak novelties that we have known for several years to be difficult to find,will be even more so with the celebration of this half-century of existence.
On this subject,François-Henry Bennahmias,the CEO of the company explains to Frank Sans C in the program dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Royal Oak of Audemars Piguet,
the reasons for this rarity exclusively linked to the very high demand.
Despite all the goodwill of the company and the hard work of the teams at work in the workshops,these new anniversary references all have the advantage of being”collectors”in advance and therefore difficult to find pieces.
We must admit that the 2022 pieces have a little something electrifying when we discover them.
