Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon

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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon Yoon and Verbal

 

Miniaturized Concept

For a long time, the Royal Oak Offshore Limited Edition has been one of my favorite Audemars Piguet watches, and arguably one of my all-time favorite watch brands. In recent years, the Royal Oak Offshore collection has become somewhat conservative in its design, making the concept series more appealing, as Audemars Piguet has been bolder and more innovative in its designs. The latest Royal Oak concept watch is a collaboration with AMBUSH founders Yoon and Verbal. This new piece shrinks the original 44mm concept watch to 38.5mm, making it more wearable for a wider audience. The titanium case houses a skeletonized black aventurine dial with an exposed flying tourbillon. The in-house manual-winding Caliber 2982 boasts a 72-hour power reserve and is limited to 150 pieces worldwide. I personally love this watch, but due to my height, I still prefer the larger concept version.

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept collection debuted in 2002 as a 44mm experimental timepiece crafted from Alacrite 602, marking the beginning of a dedicated series focused on cutting-edge materials science and avant-garde case design. For over two decades, the Concept collection has been Audemars Piguet's primary testing ground for highly complex prototypes, typically featuring bulky, large cases to house the internal chronograph, acoustic resonators, and intricate escapements. This new Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon, designed in collaboration with AMBUSH founders Yoon and Verbal, marks a significant reduction in the collection's size. Limited to 150 pieces, this 38.5mm titanium case reinterprets the iconic, radical silhouette of the Concept collection with a more understated form. Its architecture builds upon the 38.5mm case platform established by the Tamara Ralph Special Edition watch launched in 2024, proving the feasibility of miniaturized concept cases.

 

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Audemars Piguet combines a significantly improved manual-winding flying tourbillon movement with a high-contrast aventurine and anodized aluminum dial, shifting the focus of mechanical design from mere density to striking material contrasts. The resulting 26643TI.OO.D002CA.01 watch features meticulous geometric finishing and a deliberately reduced number of dial indicators. Its dual-hand layout isolates the escapement, eliminating unnecessary complications and presenting the chronograph mechanism's operation in a clear and unobstructed manner.

Case and Dial

The 38.5mm case diameter and 11.4mm thickness give the watch a strong presence on the wrist. While 11.4mm is slightly thick for a manual-winding watch that only displays the time, this thickness is structurally necessary to accommodate the vertical space required for the flying tourbillon cage and layered dial elements. The titanium construction effectively avoids the top-heavy problem often found in watches made of traditional precious metals (such as gold or platinum). The integrated lug design elongates the distance between the lugs, allowing the rubber strap to spread outwards before fitting the wrist, creating a more robust initial wearing profile. The screw-down crown at 3 o'clock is made of black ceramic and coated with a titanium plate, effectively preventing the wear and tear common in ordinary metal crowns after years of daily winding.

Audemars Piguet uses Grade 5 titanium (Ti-6Al-4V), with added aluminum and vanadium, enabling an extremely high level of mirror polishing. This metallurgical characteristic is clearly visible in the mirror-polished chamfers on the case sides and the octagonal bezel edge. Standard Grade 2 titanium cannot achieve this reflective effect and appears dull under the polishing wheel. These reflective chamfers, along with the satin-brushed top surface and sandblasted grooves, create a striking structural transition. The multifaceted Concept case employs an alternating polishing process, requiring extensive hand work, as the sharp geometric angles make it impossible for automated machines to polish without precisely rounding the edges. The case is water-resistant to 20 meters, meaning the watch cannot be used in any real-world underwater environment, offering only basic splash protection.

The dial design uses a simple combination of black aventurine and red anodized aluminum. Aventurine glass, originally developed in Venice in the 17th century, is a synthetic matrix containing copper inclusions. Processing this notoriously brittle material into a thin dial blank and cutting a large circular tourbillon window at 6 o'clock requires high-precision diamond milling to prevent structural breakage. The black aventurine used here absorbs ambient light, while the copper inclusions create isolated reflective points, contrasting sharply with the matte finish of the internal mechanism. The sapphire crystal glass, treated with anti-reflective coating and nearly flush with the octagonal bezel, minimizes off-axis distortion, ensuring crystal-clear visibility of the dial's depth.

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The aventurine dial is separated by black metal bridges, exposing part of the internal gear train. The image shows the construction of the central pinion. This watch features a strict two-hand design, with 18K white gold hands that have been smoked and filled with grey luminescent material. The hour markers on the dark black inner bezel are also coated with luminescent material. The omission of the seconds hand has a clear mechanical principle: it reduces parasitic drag in the gear train, thus more efficiently transmitting power directly to the tourbillon escapement. Visually, without a sweeping seconds indicator, the wearer's gaze is no longer affected by surrounding movement, but is directly focused on the tourbillon cage's rotation every 60 seconds.

Movement

The manual-winding Calibre 2982 is a direct architectural evolution of the Calibre 2964, specifically tuned for this 38.5mm case. The movement is 29.5mm in diameter and 6.0mm thick, composed of 212 individual parts and set with 18 jewels. Its frequency is a traditional 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations per hour), providing at least 72 hours of power reserve. Compared to modern 4 Hz systems, the lower 3 Hz frequency means less energy is released from the mainspring, effectively extending the power reserve of a single mainspring barrel. The lower frequency also allows for a larger and heavier balance wheel, increasing mass and ensuring greater stability against physical shocks during daily wear.

Since the Caliber 2982 is manually wound, winding is achieved through a ceramic crown that engages directly with the mainspring barrel via a keyless mechanism. The absence of an automatic winding module significantly reduces the movement's thickness, allowing a 6.0 mm movement to fit into an 11.4 mm case while still providing vertical space for the domed escapement. At 6 o'clock, the flying tourbillon omits the upper bridge, with the entire rotating assembly supported by a single pivot on the baseplate. To compensate for the instability introduced by removing the upper support structure, the manufacturing tolerances of the lower bearings must be extremely tight. Because the entire frame employs a cantilever structure, any structural imbalance will accelerate the wear of the lower jewel bearings.

Audemars Piguet has abandoned the traditional steel or titanium alloy tourbillon frame, instead crafting this unique frame from aluminum. The top plate of the frame is finished with a vibrant red anodized finish. The use of aluminum was a deliberate mechanical choice; this material has a much lower density than standard watchmaking alloys. By reducing the mass of the rotating frame, the torque required to initiate and maintain the escapement's 60-second rotation is correspondingly reduced. The reduction in rotational inertia minimizes amplitude variations at different physical locations, directly improving the chronograph performance of the regulating mechanism.

Viewing the movement through the sapphire crystal case back, its modern dark-finished aesthetic contrasts sharply with traditional Swiss finishing. The baseplate and bridges are extensively micro-blasted, creating a uniform matte finish, with hand-polished chamfers outlining the structural edges. The manual winding design eliminates visual obstruction of the automatic rotor, allowing the gear train layout and the exposed mainspring barrel to be fully visible. The titanium case back is engraved with the brand name, "Y/V," and "Limited Edition"—the font is simple, powerful, and exudes an industrial feel.

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Strap

This watch features a replaceable strap system, with the straps integrated directly into the titanium lugs. The main strap is made of black vulcanized rubber with a unique "micro-mosaic" texture. This textured surface scatters light, reducing the monotony often found in ordinary rubber straps. The strap lining has a quilted design, creating microchannels on the skin to aid in perspiration and heat dissipation during extended wear.

A red rubber strap, also featuring a micro-mosaic texture and quilted lining, is included in the package. A dedicated quick-release system allows for easy strap changes without the need for a special spring lever tool. Both straps are secured with an Audemars Piguet titanium folding clasp, the clasp's finish complementing the sandblasted and brushed finish of the case's inner layer.

Technical Specifications

Case: 38.5 mm x 11.4 mm, titanium, anti-reflective sapphire crystal glass and case back, black ceramic crown, titanium setting, 20 m water resistance.

Movement: Manual winding Caliber 2982, 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations per hour), 18 jewels, 212 parts, 72-hour power reserve, flying tourbillon.

Dial: Skeletonized black aventurine dial, black 18K white gold hands coated with grey luminescent material, black inner bezel.

Strap: Replaceable black rubber strap with a "micro-mosaic" pattern and quilted lining, titanium AP folding clasp. A red rubber strap is also included.

Price: Price negotiable.

Reference Number: 26643TI.OO.D002CA.01