Audemars Piguet's unstoppable progress: "Royal Oak x Iconic Design"

The Royal Oak, released in 1972, is a masterpiece in watch history that even broke down the boundaries between luxury watches and sports watches with its iconic design and advanced concept. However, the distinctive case design led to complex manufacturing processes, and this remains the case even today, half a century after its launch. From the moment of its creation, the Royal Oak was destined to remain an exterior complication.

Beyond the 50th anniversary, exterior complications

　The Royal Oak celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022. There are countless stories surrounding its development, but perhaps the most famous is the late Gérald Genta's first drawing, which was completed in just one night. This is often cited as a prime example of Genta's genius, but it turns out it wasn't such a leisurely story.

　The Royal Oak project began in April 1970, led by Georges Golay, then global CEO of Swatch. On the eve of the Royal Oak's development, Golay plotted to take advantage of the extensive sales network of SSIH, one of the predecessors of the current Swatch Group (which at the time had 160 sales agents and 15,000 retail stores). As a condition of the partnership, he agreed to the development of a steel bracelet watch, which was beginning to show signs of becoming popular in the Italian market. Immediately after the meeting, Golay contacted Genta, who had just launched his design studio in 1969.

　According to Genta's own words, the date was 4:70 p.m. on April 10, 4. The Basel Fair was scheduled to open the next day. Genta was under pressure to complete the design by the following morning. Some say that the "waterproof" feature, which was also included in the proposed Royal Oak drawing, was simply a mishearing on Genta's part. However, this extremely tight schedule and the greatest mishearing of all time resulted in a masterpiece that changed the history of sports watches. This is often the moment when an iconic design is born.

　The next day, Genta's drawing received the official go-ahead at a meeting with SSIH executives at the Audemars Piguet booth. Genta was involved in the creation of the prototype and even visited Favre-Perret, Golay's chosen case supplier. However, the actual development process proved extremely challenging. The first Royal Oak was completed as a monobloc case (a two-piece case) with the movement detachable from the bezel. However, ensuring water resistance and, above all, realizing the complex design in hard steel were difficult challenges. Gay Frères also produced the tapered bracelet, but completing the 154-part production version proved difficult, resulting in Audemars Piguet's watchmakers making manual adjustments to the casing.

　The manufacture of the dial with its unique tapestry pattern was entrusted to Stern Frères in Geneva. Laurent Tille, the company's design director, worked with Genta to select 13 templates, from which the "T21" was chosen. The "T21," one of the templates used on an old guilloching lathe, became the prototype for the current "Petite Tapisserie" dial.

　The unique blue color was called "Night Blue 1 + N50," and was a transparent zaponnage (lacquer coating) made by mixing a small amount of black on top of the blue galvanic to create a cloudy finish. The difficulties in developing and manufacturing the first Royal Oak were related to the manufacturing technology itself in the 70s and the fact that the case suppliers involved were unfamiliar with working with steel, but this fundamental difficulty remains the same today.

　Although steel luxury watches are now commonplace, the Royal Oak's production still relies heavily on handwork.

　All current Royal Oak models use a three-piece case, but the complex surface structure has remained almost unchanged. For example, looking at the bezel manufacturing process, a blank round bar is placed on a lathe and carved from the back. Next, the octagonal proportions are carved out in a similar manner to cutting the outer periphery of a cam. Further diagonal facets are carved, and finally, the surface that will become the top of the bezel is cut off. Next, hexagonal screw holes are drilled with a milling cutter, and then the machine finish (primer polishing) begins, and this is where the Zaratsu polishing machine comes into play.

　The final hairline applied to the top of the bezel is hand-finished using a surface plate and wrapping film. The final mirror finish on the facets is also done by hand. In the bracelet manufacturing process, the cross-sectional shape of each link is adjusted one by one before pins are inserted and laser welded. A belt sander that matches the tapered shape is used to create a delicate satin grain on the sides.

　Today, Audemars Piguet manufactures its own major exterior components, such as the case, bracelet, and dial, but the amount of effort required to achieve the final finish remains exactly the same as it did in the 70s. In fact, perhaps due to the demands of the times, the standards for texture have become even stricter. The reason why the Royal Oak remains an exterior complication even 50 years after its birth is that it is inextricably linked to its iconic design.