Audemars Piguet seems to have made a breakthrough in the acoustic quality of chiming watch technology and significantly enhanced sound transmission…
The new Royal Oak Concept is the first chiming watch so acoustically considered as to become a sound concept in its own right. It has been sonically developed through an ongoing acoustic study programme in collaboration with the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and it took three years to transfer that technological study into a watch concept. The result is scientifically defined sonic targets for watchmakers to measure and attain the ‘perfect’ minute repeater sound at a volume level never achieved before.
By applying the principles of stringed instrument making, Audemars Piguet has made a breakthrough in the acoustic quality of chiming watch technology and significantly enhanced sound transmission. In parallel, the Manufacture has innovated to overcome the necessary restrictions of water-resistance, which naturally dampens volume, with creative solutions increasing sound intensity. Audemars Piguet also developed a new – almost silent – striking mechanism regulator. The volume, pitch, tones and harmony of sound in a modern water-resistant minute repeater watch are all scientifically enhanced.
Hear how the watch chimes…
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
MOVEMENT
Hand-wound Manufacture movement with minute repeater, tourbillon and column-wheel chronograph
CASE
Total diameter 29.90 mm (13 1⁄4 lignes)
Minimal guaranteed power reserve > 48 h
Frequency of balance wheel 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations / hour)
Titanium case, Titanium bezel, titanium push piece guards.
Diameter: 44 mm
Water Resistance: 20 m
DIAL
Black dial, black counters, Royal Oak concept hands with luminescent coating.
STRAP
Black rubber with titanium folding buckle
FUNCTIONS
Hours and minutes
Chronograph with central sweep-seconds hand, 30-minute counter (at 3 o’clock) Minute Repeater
staggering. had to turn the volume down on my computer!