Audemars Piguet Frosted Gold Royal Oak Guide

GLau · 2021-09-18T16:29:19Z

Explore Audemars Piguet's Frosted Gold Royal Oak collection, a collaboration with Carolina Bucci. Discover the unique diamond-tipped peening technique and collector insights.

GLau

WPS member · Audemars Piguet forum

24 replies4588 views8 photos

GLau's post offers an exclusive look at Audemars Piguet's Frosted Gold Royal Oak collection, highlighting its unique aesthetic and the intricate craftsmanship behind it. His detailed account, informed by an AP House senior sales associate, delves into the collaboration with jewelry designer Carolina Bucci and the demanding diamond-tipped peening process. This article explores why this collection, initially launched for the 40th anniversary of the ladies' Royal Oak, has captivated collectors and become a highly sought-after series for both men and women.

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WOW 🤩 !!!

The photos don’t do justice on just how great they look and feel in the metal. Vincent the senior sales associate at AP house informed me that in 2016 AP started frosted gold in collaboration with famous jewelry designer Carolina Bucci (4th generation jeweler) for the 40^th anniversary of female RO. To me, the current range (34mm, 37mm and 41mm) is simply lovely for both men and women.

The frost is created by a hand held tool with a striking diamond tip that moves 200 times per second ! At first, it took up to 2 days to completely frost a RO, and apparently the technicians after a day’s work would go home with their hands/bodies shaking. Now with more experience and better techniques, the process would still take several hours for one watch. Here is a link to an AP video on frosted gold on youtube: https://youtu.be/xGYf2B-ukvc

Both double balance wheel openworked is well executed with wonderful color schemes. After doing some research, I found out that back in the 30s during the global recession, many brands (AP included) focused on skeletonized watches to reduce material costs. In 1934, AP released the first skeletonized watch (similar to the 1285 below)

Image above is from taking a picture of a photo from Spiral magazine☝️

What are your thoughts on these frosted gold watches and which one(s) do you like or dislike and why ?

Key Points from the Discussion

The traditional method of creating the frosted effect, known as peening, involves making each tiny indentation manually with a small point and hammer. While AP uses a diamond-tipped tool, the underlying principle of meticulous, individual indentations remains.
The Frosted Gold Royal Oak collection, despite not appealing to all traditionalists who appreciate AP's steel luxury, has garnered a significant following and is highly sought after, making many pieces unobtainable.
The labor-intensive nature of the frosted gold technique, which initially took up to two days per watch and still requires several hours, underscores the craftsmanship involved, a point AP openly discloses.
The technique used by Audemars Piguet for its Frosted Gold Royal Oak invites comparison with other brands' intricate surface finishing, such as Grand Seiko's platinum watches, which also feature detailed, hand-engraved textures.
The sky blue dial on the ladies' Frosted Gold Royal Oak is particularly stunning and appreciated by collectors who value the aesthetic appeal of the collection.

The Discussion

BigFatPauli

Sep 18, 2021

Interesting that Ap "brags" about doing the frosting like this...

The actual traditional method, called peening, is the manual process of what they have imitated. Basically a small point and hammer make each tiny indentation. One. By. One. You can see it being done, by hand, at the 22 second mark in the video. And it's tedious... Very tedious. It seems odd to boast about taking a short cut on such expensive watches. What's next? Journe bragging about stamping their dials versus using a rose engine?

Lankysudanese

Sep 18, 2021

Does rexhep actually personally perform all of the finishing on these akrivia masterpieces? Is he skilled in all the skills?

Does anyone actually know?

BigFatPauli

Sep 18, 2021

No, he doesn't personally do all the finishing.

As I understand it, there is a team of 6 people including him and his partner, Annabelle. Certain parts of the watch are also outsourced. The case, for example, are made by Jean-Pierre Hagmann so Rexhepi has help.

Lankysudanese

Sep 18, 2021

Thanks BFP. That was my previous impression, from his interviews on watchestv's youtube channel etc.

A big fan of his work. The video you embedded made it same like he DID perform all the tasks.

BigFatPauli

Sep 18, 2021

And perhaps he can and has in the past...

But Akrivia has grown and he only has so many hours in the day.

Lankysudanese

Sep 18, 2021

His IG account makes it clear that he’s perfected the work/life balance,

which undoubtedly plays a part in his design and production of his masterpieces . 😉💪🏿