ED209's Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Clock

Just wanted to share a few pics of my new AP Royal Oak.  But before we look at the pics, I'd like to give you some background on why this one is different but also special.

 I've been a big fan of AP and throughout the past few years I've been acquiring all kinds of neat little AP branded trinkets.  I have a display case for all my AP stuff (and also for my collection of Corvette memorabilia but that's a different post in the future for the TimeOut forum).  During the PuristS-On-Tour 2008 trip, we made a visit to Audemar Piguet in Le Brassus where the PuristS was the first group to visit the new watchmaking facilities.  A very nice souvenir from that trip was a AP leather wrapped battery powered watch winder (it has the AP logo embossed on the leather and is the excellent OEM watch winder made by Swiss Kubik).  In 2009, we made another PuristS trip to Taipei, Taiwan to join in the celebration of the 1 year anniversary of the Taipei 101 Audemars Piguet boutique.  Besides all the delicious food and a AP Royal Oak ring that I purchased, we received a block of crystal that has the laser etched 3-D view of the AP Royal Oak Tapei 101 LE.  This crystal has the ROO engraved in the center and you can actually view both side of the watch including the engraving of the case back.  Then on the continuation of that Taipei trip we headed over to Tokyo to visit the Audemars Piguet Ginza Boutique where we had a private tour.  As a souvenir from that trip we received a neat little AP Millenary candle holder.  At the 2010 l'Hydroptre event in the French Riviera, my fellow moderator DRMW brought back a sailing team windbreaker since I could join the trip.  And the best souvenir recently was the AP polo shirts that were in the swag bag during the PuristS 10th celebration in Las Vegas. 
There are many others, but the most important thing to me is that they represent very fond memories of fantastic trips I've made with fellow PuristS.  Each of these items has a personal story of the fun times we had and the adventures that we encounter during the trips.

On a separate but relevant note, recently I've been spending time decorating my new home.  I moved in last year but have finally had some time to decorate with furniture and other things.  At a housewarming party a few weeks ago, a fellow PuristS gave me a housewarming present and I was completely shocked as I opened the huge box.  It was a Audemars Piguet Royal Oak! 

This was a very generous thought, but I was really surprised at many of the detail inconsistencies because I've never seen a AP RO like this one.  As I started to inspect the AP piece, I thought there were a few things that were suspicious.  First was the details of the signature AP RO hex screws.  Well, actually they are hex bolts but anyway this RO is completely different.  These were raised above the surface of the bezel.  Just about all other Royal Oaks I've seen are secured and flush or slightly below the height of the bezel.  The hex bolts were also made of some type of stainless steel material and brightly polished (almost like decorative chrome plating).  Here's a pic:

The next thing I noticed was the finishing.  I think it was acceptable because it has the typical alternating brush and polished surfaces on the Royal Oak Bezel.  Edges are sharp and the finish applied in a consistent manner.  Here are two photos of the exterior finish:

My thoughts were still on the hex bolts.  I noticed that the screw slots were somewhat shallow.  How would the service center be able to put a screwdriver into this?

Nicely brush finished rehaute ring, however there is a small gap between the inner bezel, the crystal and outer bezel.  The hour indicators are thicker than what I've seen before, however they are luminous:




Another curious detail is the dial itself.  You can see how highly raised the hour indicators are, but take a look at the dial which does have the grande tapisserie pattern, but again not the same level as what I've seen.  The pattern looks fine from a few steps away but up close looks somewhat faded:




The AP logo at 12 o'clock is in the right position and the Audemars Piguet script is printed on the upper half of the dial. 

Here's another shot of the brightly polished AP logo at 12 o'clock.  The minute track is painted on and consistently straight:

The hour and minute hands are luminous but non-luminous on the sweep seconds hands.  Unlike most Royal Oak's I've seen, the seconds hand extends past the minute track:

And now the actual specs.  This thing is huge!  If you thought the new AP Royal Oak Offshores were large, this one is massive.  It's 17 inches in diameter. Yeah that's right, 17 inches which means it's 431.8 milimeters.  The bezel thickness is also impressive at 1 and 1/2 inches.  And something that you can't feel in the pics is the weight.  Extremely massive at nearly 32 pounds!  And its made in a material not seen before, it's made of solid brass!

So what can my new AP Royal Oak be? 

It's a AP wall clock! 

It took a while to find the wood studs, mounting brackets and picture wire that could withstand the weight and secure it against any movement (or even possible earthquakes that affect the SoCal region).  But it was worth the effort as it looks fantastic above my fireplace. 

Here's a view from the side where you can see the bezel and the backing area that houses the quartz movement.  The AP Royal Oak wall clock runs on a single AA size battery.

I travel quite a bit for business and a frequent flyer of Delta Airlines.  In all of their SkyTeam Lounges they have the silver colored AP wall clocks which are a few inches smaller that mine, but have the typical quartz movement where it sweeps jerkily from second to second.  My AP RO wall clock has a smooth true sweeping movement of the seconds hands just like an automatic watch. I'll post a video of it shortly. 

I'm so happy and grateful for this new addition to my AP collection.  Thanks to the fellow PuristS for their generous gift. 

Regards,
ED-209