As you probably noticed already, the SIHH 2010 expo results in a lot of new and impressive timepieces by numerous manufacturers. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the SIHH and GTE myself this year, but at least I am able to track all new releases via WatchUseek, Perpetuelle, TimeZone and WorldTempus.

Audemars Piguet is also exhibitor at the SIHH in Geneva and was actually the first brand that I kept an eye on, since I’ve seem to be bitten by the AP bug. The ‘regular’ Royal Oak timepieces suits me best and not the Offshore models. These are too bulky for me and I am not too sure about all the exotic materials AP uses for these watches. This year, I am lucky, because Audemars Piguet introduced a variety of interesting Royal Oak watches, including a non-limited skeletonized version of the 15300 model and an all new Royal Oak Equation of Time in stainless steel. Also available in gold of course, to match your yacht when you hang out in Saint Tropez.

The 42mm diameter case houses an incredible complicated movement, caliber 2120/2808, consisting out of 423 parts. Base caliber 2120 is only a mere 2.45mm thick, including the rotor and all the complications added to this movement (hence the 2808 addition in the movement number) add another 2.90mm to be able to show the Hours, Minutes, Date, Day, Leap Year, Equation of Time, Astronomical Moonphase Display and the Sunrise and Sunset times for a given location.

Although the equation of time probably doesn’t come to mind when thinking of a neat complication for your timepiece, at least not in my mind, it is a very impressive functionality to measure the difference between our conventional time and true solar time. For instance, if you’d measure time using a sundial, it will become apparent that it doesn’t indicate the same time as your watch, the differences can add up to 16.25 minutes. This variation is due to the earth’s elliptical path around the sun as well as its tilted rotation axis. For convenience, modern societies have calculated an average of all the days of the year and defined the mean solar day as comprising 24 hours, corresponding to so-called legal time.

Photo courtesy of Horomundi.com

AP explains as follows:
“The mean solar culmination point depends on your exact location, on the longitude of a given location on the globe. The equation of time read-off system developed by Audemars Piguet takes account of this specific place. Unlike most other equation of time mechanisms, it is not set to a given time zone selected by the manufacturer, typically corresponding to 15 degrees longitude. The “world standard time” system divides the world into 24 time zones and takes the Greenwich meridian as the zero point. While the official time is thus the same across the width of each time zone, true solar time varies by four minutes per degree (15 degrees=1 hour). Therefore, although the clocks on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich and on the Rue du Rhône in Geneva indicate the same time, true noon – the point in the day when a sundial shows no shadow, or put another way, the sun is exactly directly overhead, can be observed a few minutes earlier in Zurich than in Geneva.

Not only does the Audemars Piguet mechanism take into account this local variation, it also enables one to read off the solar culmination time at any time of the day. To do so, this exceptional mechanism is personalised and adjusted according to the degree of longitude chosen by its owner. The name of the chosen city and the solar zenith in this place are engraved on the ring (such as 12.36 for Geneva). The ring also bears a graduated scale running from -15 to + 15 minutes. The zero point of the graduation is located exactly at the mean solar culmination time in the chosen place. The equation of time hand continuously displays the difference between the two values. When the hour hand corresponds to the time indicated on the graduated ring and the equation of time and minute hands are superimposed, the owner of the watch knows that the sun is exactly at its zenith. It’s exactly as if he had a sundial on his wrist, and there is no need for any mental arithmetic!”

The perpetual calendar and sunrise and sunset complications probably need no introduction, however, the combination of all these features make this one hell of a complicated timepiece. All this, without losing the original 1972 octagon shaped bezel and case design. Audemars Piguet did an excellent job, demonstrating their master watchmaker skills and using their proven Royal Oak concept. Although some people complain that Audemars Piguet is almost equal to Royal Oak (and admitted, they have plenty of other interesting collections currently), this one stands out and is hard to dispute with. No Offshore-ish design, no rubber or high-tech materials such as carbon or ceramics, just back to basics with their stainless steel case that represents the original Royal Oak model and a superb complicated mechanical masterpiece. I love this timepiece.

Photo by Paul Boutros @ TimeZone

The 26603ST (stainless steel) and 26603OR (gold) are only available on a leather strap, for now. The AP folding clasp has the famous AP monogram and comes in either stainless steel or gold. Prices will be probably published later on, when they are bound to appear in the AP boutiques and at authorized AP dealers.

Good work Audemars Piguet! Besides the Equation of Time and the before mentioned skeletonized Royal Oak Date ref.15305, there are a number of Offshores in the new programme. A Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix Collection, Offshore Diver, Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph and an Offshore Chronograph in 37mm, intended for men. Uhuh, we all know where the 37mm Chronograph is going to end…

Just before year-end, on the 24th of December to be exact, I traded my Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ref.15300 for a 15202ST (or 15202ST.OO.0944ST.02 in full). Although I was very happy with my white dialed Royal Oak 15300, the 15202 ‘Jumbo’ remains to be the original Royal Oak in my opinion. The original Gérald Genta creation of 1972 still lives in the current Royal Oak collection, bearing reference number 15202ST. The original Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’ is pictured below, with reference number 5402.

As you can see, the hour markers are a bit different than the current ‘Jumbo’ and the AP logo changed position. If you look even more closely, you will notice that the dial pattern is a bit different too. The squares are a bit smaller than on the current models of the Royal Oak series.

What didn’t change, is the size of the watch, the lack of a second hand, the movement caliber (2121) and the thin case. The thin case is only possible because AP still uses the caliber 2121 movement, which has a height of only 3.05mm thick, including the 21ct gold rotor. The screws in the octagonal bezel are still made out of white gold, as are the minute and hour hands. Below a picture of the movement, dis-assembled (without rotor) not even 3mm in height. Picture credits to Matthias S of the German R-L-X forum.

I think a lot has been written about this movement already, also used by Vacheron Constantin (caliber 1120 in their ‘222′) and the Patek Philippe Nautilus (caliber 28-255), all based on Jaeger-LeCoultre’s caliber 920. Story is that VC, PP and AP had some influence/input when JLC created this movement. Later on, only AP made this particular movement in license of JLC.

The main difference between the 15300 and 15202 are the thickness of the watch and bracelet and, ofcourse, the second hand. From an owners perspective, I have to say that I really had to get used to the 15202 ‘Jumbo’ the first few days, as the bracelet is really thin in comparison to the one of the 15300. It feels a bit like wearing a vintage watch, where the 1972 design kicks in again probably. However, it wears very comfortable on my wrist and the look of the watch’s face (there is almost no space between the dial and the sapphire crystal) is simply amazing.

Although I was a bit weary at first, that I would miss the new and updated bracelet, and the white face with long(er) hour markers, the Jumbo is here to stay and I consider it the master piece of my very modest collection of time pieces. The name ‘Jumbo’ is a bit out dated as well, since 39mm isn’t that Jumbo and the 15300 is even a bit larger in size. However, it could be considered authentic to keep calling this particular model ‘Jumbo’.

Enough talk, here are some of the photographs that I took today!

And here is a lousy shot of the transparent case back, showing the wonderful caliber 2121 movement. You can clearly see the superb finished rotor, with the 21ct gold mass attached to it.

I will write a more in-depth review in some time from now, I first have to enjoy wearing it! Although I don’t feel the urge purchasing another time piece in the (near) future, I can imagine it will take a lot of time to buy something next to this one.

Lastly, I recently found this vintage (probably 1970s) advertizement of the Royal Oak that I love to share with you.

You merely look after it for the next generation. With this slogan, Patek Philippe seduces you to take the plunge on one of their magnificent watches. It creates some kind of justification to spend a tremendous amount of money on one time piece that could have bought you half a dozen other Swiss quality watches.

One of my favorites is the Patek Philippe Nautilus (ref.5711/1A) in its purest form: stainless steel and with hours, minutes and date only. However, Patek Philippe also manufacturers the 5712/1A, which is basically the same watch in terms of design or look & feel, but it features a moon phase, date and power reserve indicator. These complications make it the ultimate luxury sports watch.

Although purists may find this dial lay-out way too crowded, it does save them from buying the ‘regular’ 5711/1A model and buy another Patek Philippe with complication to go along with it. To a certain point, I will call myself a purist when it comes to watches, but I would be able to live with the 5712/1A and pass it on to the next generation when time has come.

Henrik over at SubGMT is a Rolex specialist, both new & vintage models. At only very rare moments he has another brand in stock. Today, it is this Patek Philippe 5712/1A he was willing to make an exception for. On his website, he writes Although it is not a Rolex, it is a pretty nice watch. Now that’s the spirit of a well-educated Rolex specialist. Only make exceptions for things that are worth making exceptions for.

The Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712/1A has a self-winding movement with a 22 carat gold micro rotor. Despite the small diameter of the rotor – see the photo below – the use of 22 carat gold makes sure it has enough mass to do a proper job on winding the movement. The caliber 240 movement is only 31mm in diameter and a height of only 3.98mm, for a complicated movement, that’s stunning.

This particular watch is stamped September 2009 at an authorized Patek Philippe dealer in Germany and is in “like new” condition. The watch comes – of course – with all the proper documentation and warranty papers. The Patek Philippe serial number gives you the right to subscribe to their in-house magazine which covers all topics, from cultural stuff to the latest Patek Philippe watches.

This Nautilus has a diameter of 40mm and water resistant to 60 meters. In fact, this just means that this watch can handle a splash or shower and at least doesn’t let dust gets a chance to get inside the watch case. Don’t even think about going for a swim with this watch, as if it only were to prevent the carefully polished and brushed case and bracelet from scratching.

SubGMT gives this Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712/1A a 19.999 Euro price tag.

Thanks to Henrik for the photos.

Being a big fan of Gérald Genta designs, I just found an article by Desmond Guilfoyle about the design work that Genta did for Omega in the 1960s. I’d read in several magazines and websites that Genta was responsible for some of the Omega Seamaster and Omega Constellation designs, but never knew which ones exactly.

Picture by Ms. Stefania Slenzio von LUXURY GRIFFES S.A.

Desmond was able to get in touch with Evelyne Genta, Gérald’s wife, and managed to have her asking him which models he designed for the most famous brand from Bienne. It seems – and I suspected this already – that he at least is responsible for designing the Omega Constellation C-model from the late 1960s/early 1970s. I actually had one a few years back, with tuning-fork movement (based on a Bulova Accutron movement), but sold it before it would break-down on me.. I think the watch was produced in the mid-1970s. Another downside was that it had a gold-plated case. One scratch or dent and it would become very ugly.

Below is an example of a C-shape Constellation (ref.168.009) that Genta designed:

Photo by Antiquorum

Furthermore, he designed the Constellation with reference number 14900. Therefore, I assume that the successor models of the 14900, the 167.005 and 168.005 are also from the hands of Gérald Genta. And to me, being a Genta fan, this is a cool finding, because this means that my father’s Constellation (on which I did a write-up about a week ago) is probably a Genta design as well.

Photo by WatchesToBuy

If you want to read the full article on Gérald Genta and his work for Omega, please click here for Desmond’s superb story.

Two months ago, I borrowed the AP Royal Oak Offshore Rubber Clad from FW sponsor Watch-Site to write a review about it, and also got their AP Royal Oak 15300ST to compare. Both watches are/were impressive, but the 15300ST was so amazingly nice (nicer that I expected it to be), that I wrote a review about this one as well. You can find it here. As I examined the watch, I noticed that it is much more up to date than the famous 15202ST Jumbo. Praised by many, but still a watch for the more ‘advanced’ collector.

Anyway, about a week ago I decided to do a trade to get the AP Royal Oak 15300ST from Watch-Site. The trade included my Rolex Yacht-Master, which I wore very often for about 2 years. I’ll probably miss it, but this new Audemars Piguet is a worthy successor I guess . I like their Royal Oak series since I became interested in watches (over 10 years ago) and always ‘envied’ my friends who already had one of these beauties in their collections. And a week ago, I put a check in front of this ‘cult’ watch on my list of wannahaves.

You can expect a more thorough review on this watch in the future. Below are some pictures that I took during my holiday last week, in the south of France.

After one week of wearing, I’d say this is the most comfortable stainless steel bracelet I have in my modest collection of watches. The Cartier-type of deployant clasp (also called ‘butterfly’ folding clasp) doesn’t get in the way like some other folding clasps tend to do. This 40mm watch is very comfortable to wear, it didn’t take long before getting used to such a flat watch again.

The inhouse AP caliber 3210 ticks at 21600 bph and while looking magnificent (and it is high regarded as well, according to Michael Balfour’s Cult Watches book), I think it is a bit slow to my taste. I will have it regulated if necessary anyway