SIHH 2008 Report: Audemars Piguet
By: AnthonyTsai (registered) Sunday, April 27th, 2008 - Photo Nav: View All 37 photo(s)
SIHH 2008 Report: Audemars Piguet
Text & Photos: Anthony Tsai
AP Royal Oak Carbon Concept Watch - chrono and tourbillon
This is AP's new Concept Watch and is not a limited edition piece. However, it is limited production and around 30 pieces will be made this year. The new Concept watch is part of the Royal Oak collection.
Case: forged carbon with black ceramic bezel, crown and pushers
Bracelet: large scale croc strap with titanium AP deployant
Expected delivery is 2nd half of 2008, and due to its limited availability, priority will be given to AP boutiques and key retailers.
Specs on watch:
- Calibre 2895 manual winding, tourbillon, chronograph w/ linear minute counter, power reserve, and selection indicators
- Double barrel allowing 10 days of power reserve, carbon main plate and aluminum bridges
- 44mm forged carbon case, water-resistant to 100m with screw-locked crown
- Ceramic bezel, crown and pushers, sapphire caseback
- Luminescent gold hands with facets
- special presentation box with carbon finishing
- center bridge in green eloxed aluminum
Ball park price is CHF280k and USD$225,800 (please note these are just estimate pricing)
See the centre bridge? It's green oxidixed aluminum! Pretty cool ain't it 
Watch is pretty cool but I just wanted to make sure that the 44mm size is deceiving because the strap lugs stick way out and the strap really doesn't, so u'll need at least an 8" wrist, if not larger, to be able to pull off this Concept watch.
AP Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore Sachin Tendulkar Limited Editions
AP made 2 watches for famous cricket player Sachin Tendulkar - a RO version and a ROO version.
ROO version (150 pieces) is stainless steel while the ROO version (150 pieces) is rose gold, so a total of 300 Sachin Tendulkar pieces will be made. Estimated price is $25,100.
- The croc strap has 3 rows of colored stitching on each side
- Comes with an additional blue croc strap w/ white stitchin
- Anticipated delivery is 2nd half of 2008.
- Uses caliber 3126/3840 (based on cal 3120)
Sachin Tendulkar Offshore in stainless steel
Sachin Tendulkar Royal Oak in rose gold
AP Museum Piece perpetual calendar & minute repeater - inspired by pocketwatch
There are 2 versions of this Museum piece edition - the 1st is a perpetual calendar and the 2nd is a perpetual calendar and minute repeater.
The perpetual calendar Museum piece 8-10 pieces each year) is in platinum, while the minute repeater (1-2 pieces each year, price is N/A) is in white gold. These pieces are not limited editions but rather limited production pieces.
Both have opaline dials with applied pink gold numerals.
Expected delivery is 1st half of 2008 for the platinum model, and 2nd half of 2008 for the minute repeater version.
Not sure if this is correct, but the estimated price for the perpetual calendar only version is $118,800. Estimated price is N/A for the perpetual calendar minute repeater version.
Perpetual Calendar specs:
- caliber 5020/2819 manual winding perpetual calendar, moon phases
- 47mm platinum extra-flat case
- gold cathedrale hands
- sapphire caseback (version shown was dummy watch with no movement)
Perpetual Calendar & Minute Repeater specs:
- caliber 2855 manual winding
- 50mm WG case
- god cathedrale hands
- sapphire caseback
You can only buy these Museum pieces through an AP Boutique.
AP Jules Audemars 30th Anniversary perpetual calendar
This piece was probably one of my favorites this year for the AP new models. The automatic Jules Audemars 30th Anniversary Perpetual Calendar with moonphase uses the extra flat caliber 2120/2820 and is housed in a thin 41mm platinum case. The blue dial is called a "Tuscany" blue with applied gold indexes.
Limited production piece each year, and in 2008, AP will produce 90 pieces.
Estimated delivery is 2nd half of 2008.
One thing I don't like about this watch is that is a little difficult to read the dial due to the shiny streaks from the Tuscany blue dial. If you look at the below picture, you'll know what I'm referring to as "shiny streaks" and looks like it's an anthracite dial?
AP's new Men's and Ladies' Jewelry including Offshore rings!
Final Thoughts
For the AP fans who are only interested in the Royal Oak Offshores, this year's Offshores were probably a let down for them when compared to the Offshores from prior years. The Sachin Tendulkar Offshore is just a redialed Offshore along with a couple other Offshores not covered in this summary AP report such as the Red Scuba and red & white Rhone-Fusterie Boutique Offshore, and there was no debut of the highly anticipated Singapore F1 Offshore or the mysterious Survivor Offshore. However, the use of green oxided aluminum in the carbon Concept was awesome, and I hope more brands will utilize this electric green color in their watches.
The tuscany blue dial of the Jules Audemars perpetual calendar is amazing, and the design of the AP Musuem Piece perpetual calendar & minute repeater seems to be one of love it or hate it, and a friend of mine said it reminded him of a jumbo sized John Shaeffer repeater.
Last year's Ladies' Starlit Sky Millenary Collection was breathtaking, but this year's new Millenary watches didn't really capture my attention. However, the new AP jewelry collection is amazing, and I especially loved the Offshore rings. Both men's and ladies' jewelry lines will be huge successes IMO.
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