This year is a big one for Audemars Piguet, as it marks the 150th anniversary of the Swiss luxury watchmaker. It may be hard to believe, but for the first 97 of those years, there was no such thing as a Royal Oak.
Since the OG integrated luxury sports watch landed like a bomb on the watch world in 1972, the iconic piece has come to dominate the brand’s catalog, to the point where it’s impossible to think of AP without picturing a hexagonal bezel with eight exposed screws.
So it makes sense, then, that the Royal Oak has been central to AP’s ongoing 150th birthday celebrations. Earlier this year, we saw the brand release a revolutionary new perpetual calendar movement in a couple Royal Oaks (and, to be fair, in a Code 11.59, too), a series of Royal Oaks in a new shade of ceramic modeled after the iconic blue color of the watch’s most recognizable Tapisserie dial and a send-off to the old perpetual calendar movement in a resplendent skeletonized version.
Now, AP is at it again, this time debuting yet another new perpetual calendar movement, this time in a watch style the brand has never done before, yet one that feels decidedly old-fashioned.
Compact calendar
AP has launched two new Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar models, both with 38mm cases. This marks the first time the brand has ever created a Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in this smaller, sweet-spot size, and to do it, AP created yet another brand-new in-house movement.
The new perpetual calendar movement AP debuted earlier this year is the Cal. 7138. Boasting five patents, the automatic movement is notable for its ability to be adjusted entirely using the crown without the need for any pushers. The movement powering these 38mm models is the new Cal. 7136, which is a derivative of the 7138 that utilizes the same five patents and differs only in its exclusion of the 52-week indicator.