New Launch: The Brand New Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon

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Audemars Piguet first announced the watch as a concept and now it has officially released it as a mainstream timepiece. The Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon is now available in a 41 mm 18k pink gold, titanium, and stainless steel variants. This watch is special because this is the very first time that a non-concept model has been given the flying tourbillon complication. To act as the cherry on top, the watch also sports a selfwinding movement.

The watches offers a water resistance of about 50 meters and they are accompanied by integrated matched metallic bracelets.

The All-New Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon

First Impressions

Now, the first ever Royal Oak Tourbillon watch dates way back to the Royal Oak’s 25th anniversary. It was launched in the year 1997. On the other hand, the new Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon follows the exact same trend and puts that on a modern 41 mm diameter setting. Audemars Piguet enthusiasts will should also be aware of the new brand signature featured on these models. This signature is also a first for the brand as it is rendered in galvanic growth 18k gold. As per Audemars Piguet, it is similar to that of the process of 3D printing. It is, nonetheless, highly a delicate procedure that was originally used for the Code 11.59 family of timepieces.

All the three references can easily be differentiated by their dials. The steel reference 26530ST features a radiant blue colored dial over a tappisserie pattern. The patten emanates from the center of the tourbillon making it the origin point. Similarly, the pink gold reference 26530OR has the same dial design but with a smoked grey coloured theme. Last but not least, the titanium reference 26530TI displays a truly beautiful and completely different sandblasted dial in slate grey colour.

Honest Opinion

These brand new Royal Oak watches are me de la me, without a single pounce of doubt. They deliver their power packed performance thanks to Audemars Piguet’s very own Calibre 2950. This is an automatically wound mechanism that runs at a frequency of 3 Hertz and offers a power reserve of up to 65 hours.

The 2950 was actually introduced in the Code 11.59 collection, the flying tourbillon being a flagship complication for the Swiss master horologist. For those who do not know, flying tourbillons are known to be tourbillons that does not possess an upper tourbillon bridge also known as the dial side bridge. They are completely supported by the rear side of the complication via something known as an arbor. Flying tourbillons are better in the sense that they allow users to have a better view of the spin.