Proud owner of an original Royal Oak, Michael Friedman wasn't even born when the iconic timepiece debuted in 1972. It took the American watch collector many years to find one of the first hundred pieces produced by Audemars Piguet.
Over the years, the watch's blue tapisserie dial has acquired a patina, though still pleasing to the eye.
"It has an aged or 'tropical' dial as if affected by the Sun," said Friedman. "It's 45 years old now but still relevant, and even more relevant than in the early 1970s, since the bold design was so well ahead of its time."
Friedman joined Audemars Piguet four years ago after an extensive career as a watch curator and working at Christie's in New York, not to mention opening his own company to provide consultation and curatorial services for international collectors and auction houses.
Now, as Audemars Piguet's in-house historian, he can enthusiastically discuss the brand's rule-breaking ethos and heritage, from its establishment in 1875, in Switzerland's Vallée de Joux.
The horological expert noted that there are very few timepieces such as the Royal Oak that can stand the test of time itself.
"Many objects are simply a product of the time in which they are made. But once in a while comes a work of art, music, design, architecture, jewellery or watch with the ability to cut through the timeline and remain relevant for decades or centuries," he said.
Named after a British battleship, the Royal Oak stood out in a steel case with an integrated bracelet, an octagonal bezel with eight hexagonal screws, and a dial with the trademark tapisserie pattern.
"Gérald Genta designed many watches for Audemars Piguet before the Royal Oak. He was deeply aware of the company's long history of unconventionality, and further reinforced that in the revolutionary Royal Oak," said Friedman.
Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Black Ceramic.
Steel watches, beforehand, were deemed utilitarian, but the Le Brassus-based maison elevated stainless steel as a precious metal through the superlative hand-finishing of the Royal Oak.
"It was a pivotal piece that led to a sea change in the watchmaking industry, in which today some of the most desirable watches are not in precious metals but in steel, titanium, ceramic or other novel materials. This evolution began with the launch of the Royal Oak in 1972," he said. Audemars Piguet keeps one foot rooted in the past while putting one foot into the future, he added, through the marriage of its watchmaking tradition with unconventional design.
While the form has largely been unchanged, the Royal Oak has undergone great experimentation in terms of materials, while housing various complications.
The 2017 reinterpretations include the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar with the case and bracelet in hand-finished black ceramic; Royal Oak Tourbillon Extra Thin Openworked in steel and pink gold; Royal Oak Offshore Diver in funky colours; and Royal Oak Frosted Gold adorned with a meticulously-crafted Florentine finish.
Treating gold with a diamond-tipped tool creates tiny indentations with a sparkling effect on the metal surface. This surface-treatment technique has to be applied across the case and bracelet without altering the watch's clean lines in crafting the Royal Oak Frosted Gold, available in 200 pieces.
"It takes considerable time to create such a beautiful piece that really blurs the lines between watch, jewellery and art," he said of the limited edition. "Having visited the Audemars Piguet manufacturer, when I look at the watch I don't just see an object of beauty -- I also see the hands and faces of the craftsmen, who passionately made the piece." There are also many disciplines involved in producing a mechanical watch, he noted, such as metallurgy, physics, chemistry and micro-engineering, packed into such a small object. Moreover, mechanical watches are objects of permanence, whereas other items easily become obsolete.
"The mechanical watches made today are designed to outlive us and are inspiring people in ways that they never had before, because they stand in defiance of the obsolescence that surrounds us," he said.
