A Royal Oak without a movement: Audemars Piguet turns its bracelet into jewellery
Audemars Piguet translates its Royal Oak bracelet into cuffs, necklaces and earrings – in three lines spanning gold, titanium and emeralds.
Symbolic image · Photo: OpaleHorse / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet unveiled Royal Oak Joaillerie in early October, a jewellery collection that turns the integrated bracelet of its best-known watch into standalone pieces: cuffs, necklaces and earrings. According to Rapaport, the inspiration is the Vallée de Joux in the Swiss Jura, the manufacture's home. Every bracelet and necklace has an octagonal clasp recalling the watch case, Gear Patrol reports.
The collection has three lines. Dream of Joux draws on frozen lakes, night skies and flowers – in white, yellow and pink gold with diamonds, sapphires, spessartites, tourmalines, amethysts, tsavorites and topazes, plus blue titanium. Risoud Eclipse references the Risoud Forest under an eclipse: blackened titanium, white gold and sugarloaf emeralds framed by brilliant-cut diamonds. Frosted Gold uses the hammered finish developed with designer Carolina Bucci in 2016.
Jewellery is not new to the house: Hypebeast recalls Jacqueline Dimier's 1976 women's Royal Oak and the in-house jewellery workshop set up in the 1980s. Chief executive Ilaria Resta calls the collection "a gateway to the past and the future", according to Rapaport. It is available in the brand's boutiques.