Audemars Piguet "Royal Oak" / Dictionary of watch names

Everything has a name, and each name has a meaning and a reason for being named. So, what is the origin of the name of that famous watch? We will explore the secrets behind the names of watches and introduce them along with their anecdotes.
We explore the origins of the name of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, which was redesigned in 2019 with a new in-house developed automatic movement.

Audemars Piguet "Royal Oak"

　Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak is said to have been designed based on the portholes of the British warship HMS Royal Oak. The Royal Oak is the oak tree that saved the life of King Charles II. A booklet produced by Audemars Piguet in 2002 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the birth of the Royal Oak reads as follows:

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On September 6, 1651, Charles II, the future King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, was pursued by Cromwell's forces. He spotted an oak tree, took refuge in its branches, and fortunately escaped. This tree, later officially named the "Royal Oak," marked the beginning of the King's recapture of the throne and became a symbol of protection, security, and strength for Great Britain. To commemorate this event, the Royal Navy named four warships "HMS Royal Oak" between 1769 and 1914. One of these warships had a distinctive steel-plated oak hull and octagonal portholes.
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　Incidentally, the Royal Navy has named eight battleships Royal Oak, and the ship with the octagonal porthole was the sixth, built in 1862.

　Audemars Piguet officially states that the name "Royal Oak" comes from the octagonal porthole motif, and this is also how it is written in numerous books and magazines both in Japan and overseas.

　However, that seems to be not the case.

The Royal Oak was designed by Gérald Genta. It was entrusted to him by Georges Golay, who was then president of the company, and is known as his debut watch, the first time he was involved in the entire design of a watch. It is a famous anecdote that he completed the design sketch in just one day.

　Genta, who designed the entire watch, later said that the motif was a diving helmet. While working on an unprecedented waterproof structure, he remembered the window in a diving helmet, and used this as a motif to come up with the design for the octagonal bezel fastened with screws.

　So, the "Royal Oak porthole" may have been an Audemars Piguet creation, but there's no doubt that its creation contributed to the Royal Oak's incredible appeal, rivaling that of Genta's design.

The Royal Oak was born in 1972 as the world's first luxury steel wristwatch. It created a new genre of luxury sports watches and is a masterpiece that will remain in watchmaking history, spawning followers such as the Baume & Mercier Riviera (1973), Girard-Perregaux Laureato (1975), Patek Philippe Nautilus (1976), and Vacheron Constantin 222 (1977).

　The noble name "Royal Oak" must have been a great help in conveying that luxury worldview. If it had been called "diving suit" or "diving helmet," there probably wouldn't have been so many brands following suit, and luxury sports watches wouldn't have become so popular worldwide. And above all, the popularity of the "Royal Oak" would probably not have continued.

　That's why I believe the name "Royal Oak" is a masterpiece that will remain in the history of watches.

Yutaka Fukuda
Writer and editor. Writes about men's lifestyles in general for publications such as "LEON" and "MADURO." He also writes about watches in a series of articles and appears in many videos for the web magazine "FORZA STYLE."