It’s a question I’ve been mulling for the past year: What’s going to happen to the Royal Oak Concept?
Last year, when perfect replica Audemars Piguet CA released the mind-bending Code 11.59 “Universelle” – with its 17 complications – it was a massive moment for the brand. Not only did the watch solidify (or rather remind the world of) luxury fake Audemars Piguet‘s standing as one of the most interesting experts in complications, but it also brought the “Research and Development” label to Code 11.59.
It was a milestone for a collection that was pretty widely panned by the Internet at the time of its launch (though the Code was slowly picking up fans). But this time, the Code had not only grown into its own as a standalone and simple watch, but it had also shown it could be home to one of the most complex things 1:1 replica Audemars Piguet has done.
But here’s the thing: I thought that was supposed to be the job of the aaa quality replica Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept. Even back in 2015, the Royal Oak Concept case shape was the home of the first RD watch, with the technical innovation of the Supersonnerie. In fact, the company wanted to prove the qualities of the Supersonnerie so much that when it made the prototype, Swiss copy Audemars Piguet CA chose the worst-sounding material: platinum. In addition to being one of the heaviest watches I’ve handled, it’s still one of the loudest repeaters I’ve heard. It was incredible, and I was hooked. It made perfect sense to test a conceptual product in that form factor, and yet it was the last RD Concept. It was the research and development platform for the brand, perfectly large to allow experimentation in materials and movements that couldn’t fit anywhere else – at least not yet. But when the RD#4 came out, I could suddenly see a world where the Concept was discontinued in the next five years. My immediate question was: is this the end of the high end fake Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept?
I’ll cop to the fact that my love of the top quality replica Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept stems in some part from first noticing one on the wrist of John Mayer a number of years back – and Pharrell before that. I instantly connected with the idea of the watch as a more refined version of what Richard Mille had been doing for years – large, bold watches that lean heavily on materials experimentation and, yes, technical innovation. To use a watch-writer’s trope, it wears smaller than its often massive 44mm by 16mm (or so) measurements, but regardless, with its wrist presence, it’s a quintessential rock star watch. As many times as I’ve tried them on, my gut tells me I could never pull it off, and yet I love it all the same. It’s a watch that allows me to imagine being someone else.
You could make a strong argument that over the last 50 years, CA Audemars Piguet super clone for men has been a brand defined, at its core, more by complicated watchmaking than a singular design or shape. The year 1978, in particular, marked an incredibly important moment for the brand with the release of the caliber 2120/2800, the thinnest self-winding perpetual calendar of its time. Over the following 18 years, Audemars Piguet would produce a tremendous 6,508 watches powered by this 3.95 mm-thick perpetual calendar – plus 791 open-worked models – of which the 39mm Jumbo-cased Royal Oaks of the era are likely the most iconic. It was an era punctuated by a high-complication arms race that started Patek Philippe’s unveiling of the Caliber 89 for their 150th anniversary and continued with releases like IWC’s Destriero Scafusia and Gerald Genta’s Grande et Petite Sonnerie Perpetual Calendar. But the best copy Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar was one of the first and arguably the most iconic, and it remained that way for a while.