It’s a testament to how beloved and slavishly followed AP is, that its customary practice in 2022 is to drop new watches – if you’ll pardon the expression – essentially out of the blue. The company’s senior leaders have allegedly remarked that this is to curtail unwanted attention ahead of time from speculators, but with releases like this Ref. 26579CS Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar (or ‘QP’ colloquially) this fanfare-free approach appears to have done little to curtail rampant enthusiasm from all quarters.
And who can blame punters? Next to a handful of would-be competition (notably from Bulgari and Hublot) AP has defended the mantle for bleeding-edge material innovation in the world of luxury watches. In that sense, this ceramic Royal Oak QP isn’t exactly new, having been preceded by two eminently black and white predecessors (in 2017 and 2019 respectively).
To dispense with the techier fluff first: the Ref. 26579CS is built on the same complicated movement as the previous Royal Oak QPs in monochrome ceramic. Between the 22-carat gold rotor, bevelled bridge work and traditional calendar indications (including a moonphase disc machined out of aventurine), this 40-hour perpetual movement is a lavishly detailed ode to AP’s roots in traditional watchmaking, augmented by modern finishing and performance. Thanks to its self-winding construction, with regular usage, the movement won’t require any adjustment until 2100 – an impressively lengthy timespan.
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Mechanical performance is, of course, one of the lesser reasons to covet the new Royal Oak QP. Instead, its primary draw is the use of the colour blue: a shade that remains widely unavailable in the world of high-end ceramic watches. Highly reactive to light and shadow, the watch oscillates between shades of electric and royal blue.
To achieve this depth of colour, AP’s watchmakers mixed together powdered zirconium oxide with a binder content that obtains pigmentation as it bakes. The sintering process used to colour the case and bracelet involves firing at temperatures in excess of 1400 degrees, making AP’s latest showcase in material innovation literal fire. Shockingly, pricing information is available only on request.
