Creating a contrast that’s beautiful to look at, along with a sense of depth that one could potentially get lost in, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillion looks like a work of art on your wrist. The watch, which is priced at a whopping 145,000 Swiss Francs (or $157,000) isn’t your average luxury timepiece though. For starters, the outer body is literally made of 18 karat gold, and is available in white-gold and rose-gold variants. As your eye travels from the case to the dial itself, you immediately feel a sense of descent, thanks to the multiple layers/steps on the inside that go from a rich royal blue to a dark navy, almost feeling like entering a void. This arrangement allows you to practically get lost in the Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillion’s watch-face. At the very focus of this stepped dial is its diamond-encrusted tourbillion which immediately becomes the watch’s crown jewel, with nothing really to distract from its presence, apart from the gold hands and the AP logo at the 12 o’clock position.
Turn the timepiece over and you can see hand-wound manufacture caliber 2964 through an exhibition back. The watch comes with a 72-hour power reserve, alligator straps, and is set for a limited production run. Oh, and that impeccable frosted finish on the front half of the gold casing? It’s created by Italian designer Carolina Bucci, who employed an ancient Florentine jewelry technique of physically creating tiny indentations with a diamond-tipped tool on the gold surface to make a micro-texture that’s more opulent-looking than your regular sand-blasted finish… and the price-tag of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillion completely reflects that level of artistry and impeccable luxury!
Designer: Audemars Piguet
