All posts in April 2011

The black satin-brushed dial is partly skeletonized to show the inner workings of this watch. The hour and minute hands are made of 18K white gold and are partly skeletonized as well. However, because they’re rather chunky, telling that the timing is not overly difficult, but legibility isn’t ideal. That having been said, this is not actually a bit where the hands are the focus. The running seconds hand to your chronograph is bright yellow to provide contrast against the black dial.Finally, the individual moment markers as well as the mark for the 30-minute chronograph in 3 o’clock are left in white and yellow to offer maximum contrast and legibility. The 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock can be unique because it shows the elapsed minutes with a retrograde index. And lastly, at six o’clock is that the tourbillon.The motion is where the magic all happens. It is obviously in-house, and it’s the calibre 2937. And like most of luxury chronograph movements, it has a column-wheel and lateral clutch.What’s unusual about it, however, is both gongs. Instead of mounting the gongs into the movement plate, they’re attached to what Audemars Piguet Most Expensive Watches Replica calls a “sound board” Essentially, it’s a thin membrane made from a special aluminum alloy which covers the back of the movement, held in place with screws, and also forming a water-tight seal. This explains how the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie Tourbillon Chronograph watch can acquire a water-resistance rating of 20 meters, which may not seem like much to a casual observer, but this couldn’t be more erroneous. The 20 meters is actually quite impressive considering the intricate structure of this watch.

Two year ago Audemars Piguet Watches And Prices Replica announced plans for a new museum, shaped like a glass spiral rising out of the pastoral fields of Le Brassus and designed by the same Danish architect responsible for Google’s new headquarters. The watchmaker broke ground on the the new building at the start of October 2016, capping two years of planning and design.

Designed by Danish architects BIG, short for Bjarke Ingels Group, the museum will be some 2800 square meters, or well over 30,000 square feet. Named Maison des Fondateurs, or “Home of the Founders”, the museum will have panoramic walls of curved glass along its entire length, topped by a roof garden.

The Audemars Piguet museum is just one of the high profile projects BIG is working on. Others include Two World Trade Center in New York City, Google’s sci-fi campus in Mountain View, and Lego House in Denmark.

But the museum will not be the only addition to the Audemars Piguet compound. Closed since early 2016, the quaint Hotel des Horlogers will be razed and replaced with a similarly stylish glass building designed by BIG with sloping buildings and long glass facades.

Owned by Audemars Piguet and separated from its factory by a carpark, the four star Hotel des Horlogers – or “watchmaker’s hotel” – will grow from 27 rooms to 65 and become a luxury hotel worthy of the visitors who make the pilgrimage to see expensive watches being produced.

Both the museum and hotel are slated to open in 2019.

As we already begin looking forward to 2018’s SIHH novelties, we thought it’s high time to take a closer look at some of the year’s favorites, including the richly over-the-top 15202, rendered for the very first time as a modern, non-limited reference entirely from 18-carat yellow gold. It’s not merely the all-gold case that lends the 15202 significance though — there are a couple additional (albeit much more subtle) visual cues that set this specific reference apart, and might make it more desirable for collectors in the long run. Perhaps most obvious, is that the simple time plus date-only dial configuration, completed by the ‘AP’ emblem at 6:00, which pays direct homage to the original steel 5402 released in 1972. This aesthetic also tips its hat towards the yellow gold 5402BA Jumbo introduced five decades later — the very first time Audemars Piguet rendered the Jumbo inside this valuable metal.However, more notable is that the thickness — the new 15202 steps a hair over 8mm, 0.2mm thicker than the first 5402, and the closest we have seen to people pioneering ultra-thin measurements because the 40th Anniversary editions from 2012 — thus the ‘Extra Thin’ naming convention. This new-but-really-old profile, coupled with all the eminently wearable 39mm case size truly feels like the sweet spot for the Royal Oak, also has much to do with why this iconic layout managed to develop into this kind of future-proof classic in the first place.The Jumbo Royal Oak in its classic configuration is a wristwatch that historically, by all measurements, should wear exceptionally thin. People who are searching for a marginally more toned-down aesthetic nevertheless rendered in this precious metal will appreciate the second of the 15202’s two new dial variations: a stunning blue, which, given the spate of blue-on-bronze sports watches we’ve seen this year, is as much on-trend, as it is a bit less ostentatious.

Five years ago Audemars Piguet unveiled the Millenary 4101, giving its ovoid timepiece an adventurous new look, imparting some of the excitement that accompanies the inevitable Royal Oak. At SIHH 2016 Audemars Piguet went one step further by skeletonising the 4101 to create the Millenary Openworked (ref. 15352OR.OO.D093CR.01) – an aesthetic exercise, but one that’s beautifully decorated and styled.

Conceived to have the movement form part of the dial, the movement inside the original Millenary 4101 was based on the calibre 3120, the basic in-house movement of Audemars Piguet. That was rejigged to give it a linear, left to right layout, as well as an off-centred sub-dial for the time, with the decorated base plate exposed as part of the dial, making the mechanics part of the aesthetics.

With as much as possible removed, the Millenary Openworked the calibre 4105 reveals even more. The architecture of the calibre 4101 was retained, with its most prominent features remaining in place: two rows of large screws hold down a series of bridges that span the front vertically, and the balance wheel taking centrestage at nine o’clock. The sub-dial for the time has been open-worked as well, leaving the seconds as the only solid part on the front.

Intricate enough to distract from the time, the skeleton movement is leaves little to the imagination. You can literally peer inside.

Up close the movement acquits itself well, with a high level of finishing, especially on the front of the parts. Audemars Piguet leans towards a clean look for its skeleton movements (ditto for the Royal Oak skeletons), so the bridges are finished with a fine, grained surface and a dark grey plating. But there is no mistaking the hand-finishing, particularly on the many polished bevels as well as mirror-polished screw heads. The bevelling on the sharp, inward angles of the bridges is notably masterful.

Some things are best left to the imagination 

That being said, and this is a shortcoming of many skeleton watches, too much can be revealed. The underside of the balance wheel, for instance, is readily visible from the back. It is unfinished, showing the shallow divots milled out for poising. Flip over the balance wheel in any high-end, serially-produced watch and it will look the same, but it is not the prettiest part of the movement.

Pricing and availability 

At 47 mm in diameter is large, but not excessively so, since the shape is oval rather than round. It has substantial presence, looking expensive on the wrist, as it should, given the stiff price tag. The Millenary Openworked (ref. 15352OR.OO.D093CR.01) is priced at S$94,300, equivalent to US$68,100.

When you create a limited edition replica watch of just 25 pieces in platinum you are basically creating a perfect “my timepiece is still cooler than yours” replica watch. Chopard L.U.C XPS Replica is a simple dress replica watch, but it is one of my favs, and in addition to having a sexy design it has a lot of horological bragging rights. Now that the piece has the Geneva Seal on it – that new tougher to get Geneva Seal – any replica watchianado can say, “screw your AP, this guy here was built in the canton of Geneva – and according to some prissy Swiss official, it has superlative bridge polishing. Shit, that type of polishing is extra expensive around here.”

The benefits of the Seal of Geneva (ahem, “Poinçon de Genève”) are obvious to people like me, and perhaps you, but I just realized how utterly esoteric the concept would be to most people. Imagine a salesperson trying to explain it to some average Rolex buyer at a shopping mall. Awkward hilarity would ensue. Brands like Omega have sort of figured it out when they thrust terms like “Co-Axial” at the consumer. Co-axial escapements are cool and all, but the majority of people with them on their wrist haven’t a clue what they are. But it sure does sound sort of cool, and Omega’s prime intent is to simply hammer the consumer with it.

Anyhow, going back to Chopard and this limited edition platinum version of the L.U.C XPS with that lovely blue dial. I got to thinking, “how would you properly wear a dress replica watch like this?” Most dress/formal replica watches are back, so how about one with a blue tuxedo? The most famous blue tuxedo that I came up with was worn by Jeff Daniels’ “Harry” character in Dumb & Dumber. Given how in the film they start blowing through money, I don’t think that purchasing a timepiece like this would have been out of the question. Though, given the duo’s famous lack of good taste and judgement, I don’t think something as classy as a L.U.C XPS would have caught their eye. Perhaps a replica watch like this is destined for a later, more mature and sophisticated Jeff Daniels character.

So let’s fast forward to now when Daniels is currently the star of HBO’s “The Newsroom” where he plays Will McAvoy – a brainy and outspoken news anchor and former attorney. He also seems to prefer wearing the color blue oddly enough. I think the likes of a Chopard L.U.C XPS in this platinum and blue dial guise would fit the bill quite nicely. While the solid platinum case back of the replica watch does have a hand-engraved Geneva Seal on it, it doesn’t feature an open case back. That is sort of a shame given how nice the in-house made L.U.C 96.01-L movement is.