uhren-schmuck.de

Sie sind hier  :  Home Uhren- und Schmuck-News Markennews

zurück

Uhren-News drucken

(u-s:b /Audemars Piguet) It is with a resolutely avant-garde version that the Royal Oak, the line that revolutionised the world of high-end sports watches just over thirty years ago, is entering the third millennium. Its name: the Royal Oak Concept watch.
Understated and sophisticated, an unconditional devotee of perfection featuring sleek aesthetics, it forcefully asserts the style of a future generation of Royal Oak watches.

Concept design

A laboratory watch
The Royal Oak Concept watch was born of a dream: that of a watch dedicated to absolute performance, combining tech- nical sophistication with extreme resistance. The exacerbated, pure lines of the case are gently rounded, while the oblique geometry extends the bezel, highlighting the famous octagon and its eight hexagonal screws. These organic shapes, evoking the magic of the underwater world, are expressed in innovativematerials stemming from the most advanced technological research.

For the case, Audemars Piguet has chosen alacrite 602, an exceptionally resistant super-alloy composed of 57% cobalt, 31% chromium and 5% tungsten, along with traces of carbon, silicium and iron, which is widely used in the fields of aerospace and energy production, and now for the first time in watchmaking. The hardness of alacrite 602 (430 Vickers) is over twice that of steel (200 Vickers). Meanwhile, the bezel, folding clasp and movement (mainplate and bridges) are crafted in titanium, a particularly light and corrosion-resistant material; the caseback is in sapphire crystal, while the kevlar strap is designed to withstand even the most extreme conditions.

New materials, new aesthetics
Thanks to its innovative conception, equipped with joints and screw-locked crown ensuring enhanced water resistance, the case can withstand a maximum pressure of 50 bars (corresponding to a depth of 500 m).
On the inside, held in place by six screws on the bridge side, the hand-wound movement is suspended, thereby ensuring greater resistance to shocks and accelerations. Moreover, the choice of titanium for the bridges and mainplate, because it is such a light metal, reduces the inertia of the movement and enhances its sturdiness.
Computer-assisted design (CAD) as well as the use of new materials guarantee the superior reliability of the movement and enable it to evolve in aesthetic terms. The mainplate, which is visible through the sapphire crystal, thus actually becomes a surface on which to read off the indications. Within an asymmetrical harmony created around the tourbillon bridge and the power reserve arranged in a straight line, its cut-out parts provide fascinating glimpses of the original and high-performance complex watch mechanisms.

An efficient Dynamograph
The Dynamograph was invented by Audemars Piguet in 2000. This mechanism visualises the precision of the watch by providing a continuous indication of the torque supplied by the mainspring. So long as the hand of the Dynamograph remains in the zone marked off at 12 o’clock, the quality of the energy provided by the mainspring ensures optimal precision for the movement. As soon as it leaves this zone, winding becomes necessary.

An original power-reserve indicator
It was in 1885 that the power-reserve indicator with cone transmission was first developed by Audemars Piguet, which in the year 2000 integrated it for the first time within a wristwatch case. The Royal Oak Concept watch features two innovations in this field.
The power-reserve indicator is linear.
Also, this quantitative indication gradu-ated from 0 to 12 is expressed in terms of turns of the barrel. It enables one to view the time remaining before the mainspring will be completely unwound and the watch will stop. Each revolution corresponds to a 6-hour period, representing a total power reserve of 72 hours when the watch is fully wound.

A well-protected tourbillon
Representing a particularly sophisticated complex watch mechanism, the tourbillon of the Royal Oak Concept watch is designed to withstand extreme conditions thanks to two independent devices.
Two shock-absorber springs protect the large-sized balance from vibrations. This balance, the largest ever used in a wristwatch equipped with a tourbillon mech-anism, is fitted within this timekeeper in order to further enhance the precision.
Moreover, the bridge of the carriage consists of a titanium spring able to absorb low-amplitude shocks, rendering it much more robust. Thus, thanks to a dedicated gear-train featuring an involute curve used for profiling the teeth which reduces friction, the small seconds display is placed at 6 o’clock and not on the tourbillon carriage.

An innovative function selector
To ensure the water resistance of the Royal Oak Concept watch, Audemars Piguet has developed a crown that can be only unscrewed. In order to choose the desired function (R: winding, N: neutral, H: time-setting), the wearer presses the function selector push-piece at 4 o’clock which, coupled with the crown, drives a selection wheel. Adjustments are subsequently made simply by turning the crown in the direction indicated. Thanks to this device, wear and tear of the joints of the crown is considerably reduced.

Stemming from close interaction between watchmakers and designers and entirely dedicated to innovation, the Royal Oak Concept watch mirrors the creative auda-city which the Manufacture Audemars Piguet has been cultivating at such a high level since 1875. Exuding the natural insolence of genuine elegance, it demonstrates that modernity is not something that has to be proved, but rather simply experienced.

Price 179.000.- € lim. 150 P.

Autor:  
Audemars Piguet 

Service: kostenlose Anfragen von Audemars Piguet - bei Uhren- und Schmuck-Händlern der Marke Audemars Piguet.