Audemars Piguet

Our AP forum has been very actively lately with all the special Royal Oak chronographs.  I'd like to share a few pictures from my archives of a relatively rare piece, the Royal Oak Chronograph Dubail Limited Edition.





I was inspired by posting these pics from posts like the white gold Royal Oak Chronograph by our AP Moderator MichaelC:  Please click here

And the rare prototype F1 Indianapolis 2000 by Koen S.:  Please click here

And 'just because' by our esteemed PuristS Dr. Mao with the unique piece prototype Royal Oak Chronograph City of Sails.  I still remember seeing this in person way back in 2008 during the PuristS-On-Tour visiting Piaget and Audemars Piguet in Switzerland.  Please click here


Actually it was after the PuristS-On-Tour trip that I ventured over to the beautiful city of Paris, France for several days.  We wandered around Paris and visited all the watch boutiques with several PuristS Moderators.  At Place Vendome we were warmly welcomed by the staff at Dubail and they presented us this special Royal Oak Chronograph.  It was produced in a limited edition of 50 pieces and back then there were only 2 available. 

At first glance, it resembled a typical Royal Oak Chronograph. The bezel is made in platinum.  Both the bezel and case has alternating brushed and polished surfaces.  As MichaelC has mentioned in previous posts, unique details on the previous precious metal versions have square hour markers instead of the standard stick markers.  I love the 'AP' logo at the 12 o'clock position.  The subdials are very similar to the white gold version, and has red chronograph hands that matches well with the main sweep seconds hands.  The dial is dark gray with the mega tapisserie pattern, and the subdials are black which make it easily readable with the contrasting red hands.  The Dubail edition is paired with a black leather strap with matching red stitching and a stainless steel deployant buckle. 

The other really interesting detail is viewed from the transparent caseback.  The rotor is blacked PVD with the Dubail logo engraved on it.  IMO it's a really cool feature and very unique.  The movement is the Audemars Piguet caliber 2385 self-winding chronograph movement.  The 2385 is 5.5mm thin and has a diameter of 26.20mm.  It fits nicely in the Royal Oak case.  Power reserve is rated at 40 hours.  It has a screw down crown for manual winding and setting the time.  There's also a rapid date set feature activated by the crown.  Like other Royal Oak chronographs the pushers are also have screw down protectors for water resistance. 
Besides the limited edition of 50 pieces, there were 5 pieces made that was covered in precious stones.

After our visit to Dubail, we also stopped by Chronopassion, which had another really cool special edition made for their store.  It wasn't a Royal Oak Chronograph, but a Royal Oak Offshore model that was made in titanium with a sandblasted finish.  The Chronopassion model had a special dark grey dial and looked great.  More fun things to see there was a Royal Oak Offshore titanium bracelet.  No watch just all bracelet links an the clasp which was really cool to see.  I'll look for pics of these Offshores and will post in a separate thread.

Hope you enjoyed the pics.
Regards,
ED-209
  This message has been edited by ED209 on 2015-02-13 17:27:11

Is it the only Royal Oak Chronograph with display case back? It looks really nice... 

Thanks emijar3.  I'm not sure if it's the only ROC with a display case back.  I wish more AP's had this.   The rotor looks really nice with the black PVD.

Regards,
ED-209

I think the next step for AP is making a ROC with in house movement and displays case back... I think that would be a killer watch! (Rose gold, leather strap, in house movement=D )  

Wow, it has been a long time!

Thanks for the nice article, Ed.

Nicolas.

Thanks Nicolas.  It brings back very fond memories of our visit to Paris, and of course the awesome time that we first met you!
Regards,
ED-209

No message body

square hour markers on a white metal!!

No message body

The open caseback, blackened rotor and platinum... wow.  

Thanks MichaelC, I was inspired by the cool posts recently.
Regards,
ED-209

Thanks ED209 for your post, very nice piece.

Thanks Koen S for the information.   Your special AP ROC inspired me to post these pics!
Do you have any other favorite LE's?
Regards,
ED-209

A picture from my Audemars Piguet archive.

Most obvious is the curious placement of the date.  Looks like we are missing some lume on the 3/6/9 markers, and I cannot tell if the normal AP logo at 12 is in place.

Hi Koen S.
I've been searching for this particular ROC for a long time and thought it wasn't real.
Back in 1998 when I first started looking at AP watches, I saw a similar ROC in a magazine somewhere (don't remember exactly which magazine).  The most important feature of this watch for me was the date at the 3 o'clock position.  IMO the dial looked more balanced and much better than the ones with the date between 4 and 5 o'clock.  I asked several AD's about it and they kept telling me it doesn't exist, only chronograph was the Offshores with 3 o'clock date.  I ended up buying a Breitling  Navitimer II with the chronograph subdials and date like in your pic.  Never found another image like the one you posted.  I would definitely appreciate more info on this. 

Regards,
ED-209

I always thought that the rotor was interesting when I saw it in Paris.  Thanks for the memories ED-209!

Fun times in Paris, we need to do another PuristS trip
Regards,
ED-209

...looking ROC SE I know of. This message has been edited by S.D.Quella on 2015-02-16 12:17:24

Thanks Sam for sharing your thoughts.  You're right, it does look a bit like the VC chrono Historique Dubail edition.  Similar color hands in a precious metal.
If you had a choice between the AP and VC Dubail editions, which one would you choose?
Regards,
ED-209

Well, that is to me a hard question to answer.

Thanks for checking out the post.  Definitely would be cool to own especially with the blackened PVD rotor.

Regards,
ED-209