SIHH 2017: Introducing the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in Black Ceramic, Case and Bracelet Replica Wholesale

Many forget that at the time of its debut in 1972, the now-classical 39mm Royal Oak caused quite a stir with its cost, its on-display twist heads in its bezel, its steel case and bracelet, and its extremely high price, unprecedented for a steel watch. Now, this was taken to another level with all the Royal Oak Offshore.It was big and so forth, and purists who saw it at Basel back in 1993 cried the Royal Oak had been desecrated — likely the same men and women who cried out to about the original Royal Oak desecrating luxury watches generally. Truth be told, the Offshore has been a bold move by Audemars Piguet, but now most of us know how well it has repaid. Now, the Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore are Audemars Piguet’s best-selling collections — essentially synonymous with the brand itself, which clearly isn’t a good thing, but we will leave that discussion for another time.

While ceramic has been a favourite material at Audemars Piguet for the Royal Oak, it has not been used for a watch bracelet, until now. Just announced at SIHH 2017, the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is ceramic from end to end, with the case, bezel and every link of the bracelet in black ceramic.

The case is 41mm in diameter, just like the standard model, but the finishing of the case and bracelet takes significantly more time than for the steel or gold equivalent. While a steel model takes some six hours to machine, polish and put together, the ceramic version takes 30 hours.

To match the ceramic case, the dial is a dark grey with black sub-dials, decorated with the chequerboard grande tapisserie guilloche that’s synonymous with the Royal Oak.

Historically an important complication for Audemars Piguet, the ceramic perpetual calendar is powered by the calibre 5134, a movement based on the extra-thin calibre 2120/2121 found in the original Royal Oak of 1972.

In fact, the calibre 5134 is evolved from the calibre 2120/2802, the movement used for the 39mm Royal Oak perpetual calendar that was in production for some 30 years. The key difference in the new calibre being the addition of a 52 week indicator.

Price and availability 

The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in black ceramic (ref. 26579CE.OO.1225CE.01) is priced at SFr85,000. It should be available in the second half of 2017.