stylish green accents
The new Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT model features a sandblasted titanium case, bezel, crown and pushpieces, all in green ceramic, hand-finished with a combination of satin-brushed chamfers and polished Audemars Piguet has used green ceramics in the 2018 Royal Oak Offshore collection, but this is the first time in the Royal Oak Concept.
This ceramic is made by mixing zirconium oxide (ZrO2) powder processed to give a green color when sintering and a special binder, then machined to high precision. The exact composition of the ceramic is a trade secret of the Manufacture. The final green color is obtained after sintering the parts in a furnace above 1400 ° C. One of the challenges was to obtain uniform colors. The final color of the ceramic depends on the sintering temperature, and variations are unacceptable. Le Brassus craftsmen treat each ceramic component with the same care and attention as they would with precious metals. The finished time piece is covered in a rich reflection of light.
The design code of the Royal Oak Concept is dominated by the architectural movement visible from the dial side and the case back side. Furthermore, the adoption of green ceramics and the installation of hand-wound caliber 2954. The movement’s PVD-coated black bridges and CVD-coated green color inserts provide a modern contrast. A newly developed thin layer of green is chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Filling the chamber with a precursor gas and heating it until the gas decomposes results in a stable bond of the components to the surface of each element. In addition to the subtle reflective finish, the color of each part produced with this technique is uniform and does not change over time.
The contrasting color of the time piece is further illuminated by pink gold accents. The pink gold hands are luminescent, and the AP monogram applied logo shines at 12 o’clock. Likewise, the rose gold colored flying tourbillon carriage and escapement components are visible through the openwork bridge. The black inner bezel is lined with white transfer-printed hour markers for a bright touch.
Green rubber strap with sandblasted titanium AP folding clasp. The avant-garde design of the watch is perfect down to the smallest detail. The timer also comes with an additional black rubber strap.
A combination of tradition and modern technology
The hand-wound caliber 2954 wraps the delicate flying tourbillon in a first-class display: a second time zone indicator (GMT-Greenwich Mean Time) and a crown position indicator at 6 o’clock. This indicates the position of the spiral stem of the crown, H (temporal adjustment), N (neutral), or R (spiral).
A second time zone can be read at a glance from the GMT display at 3 o’clock. This is adjusted with a pushpiece at 4 o’clock (one press forward per hour). The second time zone has a 12-hour display and is constructed by stacking two discs. When rotated once every 12 hours, the disc is made of sapphire and reveals white numerals with a black outline. On the other hand, the day/night disc is made of brass and rotates once every 24 hours. It features a white semi-circle that indicates daytime and a green CVD-processed semi-circle that indicates night.
Caliber 2954 uses the Manufacture’s patented parallel double barrel system. This gives the Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT a power reserve of 10 days and a constant winding of approximately 237 hours. The energy from both barrels is transferred to the gears at the same time through a pinion wheel that connects the two barrels, so the energy is transferred smoothly. The system reduces the weight on the gear train and the friction between the two barrels compensates for torque variations, improving precision, power reserve and reliability.
