Hi Nicolas,
I can provide you with direct experiences with the AP Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar. I have the older RO PC without the leap year and solid dial in yellow gold, and a newer skeletonized RO PC with leap year indicator. You can read the full writeup I posted a while back in this post: Please click here
Both are beautiful and the PC movement works great for the transition for Feb 28 or 29th over to March 1. Of the two I absolutely love the skeletonized RO PC, but the yg version has a hefty weight that has a really strong presence on the wrist. I agree with you on the minor gripes about the thin hands on the older version but the dial is really clean looking. Anyway, take a look at my post that compares the two.
Good luck and I'm sure you're going to enjoy either one regardless of the cost.
Regards,
ED-209
ps - here's a few teaser pics for you to get you started 

This message has been edited by ED209 on 2014-01-08 21:03:57