If you were to ask anyone to describe a typical Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, you would most likely hear elements like the octagonal case/bezel, integrated bracelet, and a blue Tapisserie dial. And they’d be right, of course, but the APRO can be much more than that. Signified as the granddaddy of the luxury sports watch, penned by industry legend Gerald Genta, the Royal Oak is one of the most popular watches ever made.
Over time, many iterations have come and gone, but every now and then Audemars Piguet manages to change it up to such an extent it feels fresh and exciting all over again. Such is the case with two new and quietly launched versions of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon 26730, in white or rose gold with dimple dials.
We’ve seen it numerous times over the past year; watch brands not communicating on new releases, silently updating the collection on the website, and calling it a day. It happened with the Omega CK 859 for instance, but also with this pair. Both come with the familiar APRO flair, but offer a welcome little twist on textures!
The case and bracelet are either in white or rose gold and with a hand-hammer, frosted octagonal bezel. The diameter is 41mm, with a height of 10.6mm. So far, nothing we haven’t seen before.
The twist comes from the dials, which abandon the signature Tapisserie style decoration, in exchange for a circular brushed and dimpled texture. Available in deep blue (for the white gold) or chocolate brown (for the rose gold), it looks very cool judging by the images! The texture gives it a lot of depth and seems to play with the light brilliantly. The rest is finished as expected, with white gold applied indices, white gold hands with luminous inserts, et cetera.
Technically, both rely on the in-house Calibre 2950, introduced with the Code 11.59 in 2019, which found its way into numerous Royal Oaks by now. this automatic movement is constructed using 270 components and is regulated by a flying tourbillon escapement, proudly shown through the round dial aperture. The running time is 65 hours when fully wound. For more details about this movement, check out this story right here!
Like most Royal Oaks, these Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon 26730BC (white gold) and 26730OR (rose gold) come on the signature linked bracelet, executed in white gold or rose gold.
The bracelet is brushed and polished instead of frosted, making the bezel pop even more. There’s no word on pricing or limitation, but we expect it to be produced in highly limited quantities and priced over EUR 200,000.
