An ancient jewellery technique encounters an icon: Audemars Piguet unveils the new Royal Oak Frosted Gold.
The Royal Oak was first designed by Jacqueline Dimier in 1976, by re-imagining the original, 1972 model designed by Gérald Genta into a lighter and sleeker watch, intended for a feminine public.
Today, on the occasion of this iconic timepiece’s 40th anniversary, Le Brassus’ Manufacture turns to Carolina Bucci, an Italian jewellery designer from Florence, to partner with and to enrich the Royal Oak’s family by designing the Royal Oak Frosted Gold.
The Royal Oak Frosted Gold is the embodiment of Audemars Piguet’s passion for the experimentation with new jewellery techniques. The main characteristic of this timepiece resides in its sparkly and shiny finish, obtained thanks to an ancient goldsmith technique, called “Florentine Technique“.
By hammering the gold’s surface with a diamond-tipped tool, the Florentine Techniques creates tiny indentations on the metal’s surface that give a shimmering effect very similar to that of precious stones like diamonds. All this avoiding any loss of gold.
The challenge, for Audemars Piguet, has been to apply this treatment across the Royal Oak’s case and bracelet in an even way and without altering its clean lines. For this reason, the Florentine Technique, usually applied by hand, has been mechanically applied, after an intense work aimed at defining the correct tool’s pulsation frequency to retain the timepiece bracelet’s correct softness and flexibility while altering the golden surface in such a way as to glow and sparkle when catching the light.
Months of trial and error to define a very delicate process that transforms the Royal Oak into a true jewellery timepiece because, thanks to the Florentine Technique, nothing is added, and nothing is removed.
Calibre 3120, self-winding (calibre 2713, quartz movement, for the 33 mm)
Hammered 18-carat pink gold (or white gold) case, glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback
Silver-toned dial with “Grande Tapisserie” pattern, pink (or white) gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating
Talking about the design evolution of the Royal Oak thanks to the collaboration with the Italian designer Carolina Bucci, the Manufacture declares:
It is a timely link to the house’s collaboration with Cristina Bucci today whose vision, although decades apart from Jacqueline Dimier’s, was to give the Royal Oak an appeal that captures the attention from a distance, injecting feminine sensibility while retaining the key design codes of the original piece.
And again:
With the Royal Oak Frosted Gold, Audemars Piguet merges Jacqueline Dimier’s timeless design with Carolina Bucci’s contemporary approach, marking a dazzling link between modern horology and contemporary jewellery.
Who’s Who
Jacqueline Dimier
“I am very happy of being part of this launch. The Royal Oak collection keeps attracting contemporary women, and it will keep doing so in the future. This is a timeless timepiece, and the Royal Oak Frosted Gold is the latest chapter of its timeless story.”
Carolina Bucci
“The Royal Oak is one of the most iconic watches in the world, and this could be perceived as a great challenge when thinking about re-imagining the timepiece from an aesthetic point of view. (…) By working the watch’s gold and applying the florentine technique, you do not add anything nor loose anything, you just transform the gold’s surface to increase its shine. This way, the timepiece takes a whole new and very attractive look.”
Material courtesy of Audemars Piguet.
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