REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

A closer look at
the Royal Oak
Concept Tourbillon
Chronograph
Openworked
Selfwinding from the
dial and case back.
The movement
is stunningly
developed by AP
Renaud & Papi.
purity in design. It’s so clean. I love the design and at the
same time I love the design language of all the facets which
are echoed in the bridges and the trapezoidal pushers in
ceramic. It’s almost got the feeling of a stealth bomber.
Put it on a black strap, it’s like a B-2 bomber. Or like what
Batman’s watch would be.
Absolutely. Now, let’s talk about two watches, one from
the past and one quite modern. Let’s start with the Double
Balance, which was developed by APRP. What I love about
them is that they’re always trying to come up with ideas
of how to make a better and more technically innovative
watch. Instead of a traditional tourbillon, they came up
with the double balance wheel. Why do you like this watch?
I wanted to buy the original Double Balance Wheel, but it
was all sold out. When I wanted it, it was already released for
a few years. So I couldn’t get one and they’re already trading
up premiums and I was like, “you know what, I’m just gonna
wait”. And then they released this and I think it’s amazing.
It wears exactly like the 15400 are the 15500 in terms of
thickness. And this is honestly the perfect daily watch as a
steel watch, because the movement’s robust. I think it’s just
as accurate as a tourbillon because of the double balance
wheel. And you just get lost in the dial. You look at it from
an angle and you see the two balance wheels spinning, you
know. It’s cool. Yeah.
And I like it also because it was a concept by Giulio
Papi and then he’s one of the great watchmaking
technical heroes of our era. And I think anything
that’s had the master’s hand in it is a very important
piece for the future as well.
I think a great story about the conception of this watch is that
it was developed in secret, right? Exactly like the ultra-thin,
perpetual calendar movement, the 2121 or 2120,
I forgot which one it is. But it was developed in
secret and I believe that the team of developers
showed François this watch. And they were like,
“we’ve been doing this”. And this is also one of
the reasons why I love AP. They can just do that.
I’m pretty sure François might have gotten mad,
but you know he listens. It’s a testament to the
watchmakers at APRP and what they’re capable
of doing when you just let them do what they
want to do and let them do it right.
So the last watch is the oldest watch here. It’s
the 5402, it’s the watch that kicked off the
entire Royal Oak craze. It’s the piece that if you
think about watchmaking in the last 50 years
or so, it’s probably the most iconic piece in the
world. When it was first launched, the entire
watch industry in ’72 was being smashed by the
Quartz Crisis. And AP was the same. Its future
was not necessarily certain and it decided to
launch one of the craziest, most innovative
watches at a price that was staggering at the
time. The 5402 when you bought it then was
something like 3,600 Swiss francs. If I’m not
mistaken, that was the equivalent of a Jaguar.
But they came out with this watch, and people
couldn’t believe it. But then that watch became
the symbol of a certain type of guy like Gianni
Agnelli and a bunch of his friends started
to wear it, and it became like that Italian
playboy’s watch. And what’s amazing about
that watch is, almost a half century later, it is
just as cool if not cooler than ever. Tell us about
your specific 5402 and yours has got a very
interesting dial, it’s kind of a slate gray dial.
I mean, I’ve always wanted a 5402. I was looking
at buying one when they were just selling for
US$25,000. Which, thinking now, I should have
bought all of them. But you know, I didn’t have
166 VINTAGE