Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Dual Time Watch

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Dual Time watch is a delightful luxury timepiece that offers an intelligent and attractive timezone complication for travelers. This watch is a recent addition to the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch series, and demonstrates the impeccable old world craftsmanship and unmistakable design that made the original Royal Oak watch an immediately coveted classic in the 1970's.

The heart of this Audemars Piguet timepiece is the selfwinding AP 2329/2846 Caliber. Based upon a modified Jaeger-LeCoultre 889 Caliber, this movement offers a subdial that indicates hours and minutes in a second timezone; an off-set 24-hour display with AM/PM sectors makes it easy to tell whether the time in another place is day or night. This refined mechanism also supports a pointer-type date display, and a power reserve indicator whose scale indicates the level of tension stored in the mainspring barrel. The dedicated watchmakers at Audemars Piguet have refined this superb caliber with an array of fine decorations, including Cotes de Geneve and perlage on the bridges and plates; sharp edges are patiently chamfered by hand. The central winding rotor, which also shows off a Geneva wave pattern, features a 21K gold segment on its outer edge that contributes mass to the rotor, thus improving its winding efficiency.

Since 1972, the Royal Oak watch has come to epitomize the concept of casual elegance with its flawless contrasting finishes, unique octagonal bezel and complex, integral bracelet. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Dual Time shares this remarkable design, although with a slightly thicker bracelet and case than the original model, as well as a new triple deployant clasp with a two-part release system. Unchanged, however, is the extraordinary intricacy of the Royal Oak design, with its extensively hand finished bracelet and bezel facets; particularly delightful to the eye and the touch are the contrasts between brushed and polished surfaces. This complex surface finishing is ideally contrasted by the sublimely crafted "Grand Tapisserie" pattern dial, complete with white gold hands and hour markers which have been painstakingly beveled and polished.

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Dual Time watch is presented in stainless steel with a silver, blue, or black dial. It is also available in 18K pink or yellow gold, these models being fitted with either a silver or black dial and a crocodile strap that joins securely to the wrist via an elegant gold deployant clasp shaped in the form of the Audemars Piguet initials.