I haven’t even seen this watch, I already know that it will become one of my favorite new products at SIHH 2016. Combining the majesty of the Royal Oak case and bracelet design with the innovative new movement and the visual effect of the hollow, this is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked watch-available in 18k rose gold and stainless steel.
Audemars Piguet prefers “hollow” rather than “skeletonization”, but the two have the same meaning. In 2016, Audemars Piguet released many hollow watches this year, which is very good because traditional Swiss brands are very good at it. Of course, this is not the first Skull Royal Oak watch to be released-it hasn’t even been closed yet. For a completely different style of Audemars Piguet Royal Oak openworked watch, please view this 2012 Extra Thin Openworked model here.
In addition to the exquisite skeleton, the “open” view of this new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance wheel openwork skeleton movement is also meaningful, because Audemars Piguet is using decorative techniques to show off its new internally-made inner tank. Calibre 3132 is a self-winding movement.
The focus of 3132 is to improve accuracy, and for this new movement, Audemars Piguet used a unique concept by producing a double-sided balance wheel structure. When we get to the hands-on operation later, ideally, we will get more information about the operation of this interesting system, as well as detailed information on how much the double balance wheel system has improved accuracy and overall performance.
According to Audemars Piguet, its “Dualbalance” dual balance system “has greatly improved accuracy and stability” compared to the traditional single balance system. If you look closely at the structure, you can see the design that fixes the two balance wheels on the central pinion. Each balance wheel has its own weight and hairspring.
Other SWISS AAA replica watches there try to improve accuracy by connecting two (or more) different balance wheels in series to the movement, which work in series but separately. The concept in these sports is to combine the speed results of each movement to get a theoretically more accurate average speed. Audemars Piguet Dualbalance uses a different approach, trying to improve rate stability in a single system, rather than trying to average the results of two different work balance wheels.
dial
The potential problem with hollow watches is that the dial area may appear cluttered, impairing readability. Fortunately, there is no such problem that bothers the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak double balance wheel hollow 37mm. The rose gold Royal Oak hands perfectly express time. Both the hour and minute hands have a luminous coating to enhance visibility, especially in restricted light. The matching rose gold hour markers are also illuminated to facilitate reading. What makes the dial particularly attractive is the way the hour markers seem to float in the air, which further expands the appeal of the dial.
The last function is the central scanning second hand. It avoids any luminous coating, has a counterweight, and can almost kiss the flange for minutes, which helps explain.
With the design of this watch, Audemars Piguet has satisfied many of my horological obsessions. I always like to check the movement at close range and absorb all its beautiful features. Anglage has the coquettish flirting ability, everywhere. Round grinding wheels are everywhere. Perlage is decorated on the main board and can be seen near the crown wheel. On the center stage, the hour wheel and minute wheel are clearly visible. The hollow barrel cover has four spokes, revealing the clockwork in different wind directions.
However, in addition to the ticking of the clock, the high golden balance bridge also occupies the southwest part of the scale. Both ends of the bridge frame are fixed on the main board with bright screws, which has higher stability than a balance switch fixed with a screw. The bridge is open-cut, with beveled corners decorated with circles, external and internal angles. The upper end of the upper inertial balance wheel has a built-in massage hammer, which proves United Airlines’ punctuality standards. According to best practice, the balance spring is fixed by a sliding nut with a round head.
A key feature of the double balance wheel is that each balance wheel can be adjusted appropriately from the dial side or the movement side. In addition, the wearer can observe the balance in flight from the front or rear of the fashion replica watch .
There is also a single balance system with double hairsprings, the expected results of which are similar in theme to reduce the influence of errors and maintain the stability of speed performance over time. However, Audemars Piguet Dualbalance took the final next step, which was to create a single structure with two balance wheels and two hairsprings. I look forward to seeing this novel system in operation, and want to understand how its accuracy can be improved over the more traditional single balance system.
The 3132 movement is very attractive in design. It is also an automatic machine with a power reserve of 45 hours at a frequency of 3 hours (21,600 bph). It is made of 245 parts, and of course it has undergone extensive “hollowing” and handmade decorations in the process. Pay attention to the 18k rose gold balance bridge, which is a popular aesthetic feature. The Royal Oak double balance wheel skeletonized steel and rose gold models on the dial are equipped with rose gold hands and hour markers.
For this case, Audemars Piguet uses its 41 mm wide Royal Oak case (water-resistant to 50 meters). I am curious about its thickness. There is no doubt that the Dualbalance system will add some thickness, but I am not sure how much. My instinct tells me that any increase in size is insignificant in the worst case.
As mentioned above, the attractiveness of Royal Oak watches and the combination of precision-focused movements and useful new technologies should make the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Skeleton Watch particularly attractive to watch lovers. This is what Audemars Piguet should do, and I am sure that fans of the brand will return the company with great interest. My only hope is that the delivery time for these models will not be shortly after SIHH 2016, because it is not uncommon for new movements to experience delivery delays during the testing and production of novel parts and concepts.
In 2016, Audemars Piguet (Audemars Piguet) will provide 18k rose gold Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Skeleton Watch (reference number 15407OR.OO.1220OR.01) and stainless steel (reference number 15407ST.OO.1220ST.01).
