The Bite Magazine - Summer 2012 - Issue 5

TO MARK THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CREATION OF ITS ICONIC STEEL SPORTS WATCH, THE ROYAL OAK, AUDEMARS PIGUET, THE SWISS LUXURY TIMEPIECE MAKER, HAS LAUNCHED A TRAVELLING EXHIBITION, WHICH KICKED OFF IN NEW YORK, MILAN AND PARIS, AND WILL TAKE PLACE IN BEIJING, SINGAPORE AND DUBAI BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR. MOYETTE MARRETT TAKES A LOOK BACK AT THE HISTORY AND DESIGN OF THE WORLD’S FIRST HIGH-END MECHANICAL SPORTSWATCH. AUDEMARS PIGUET’S 40 ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROYAL OAK WATCH T he Audemars Piguet Royal Oak was created by the late visionary designer, Gérald Genta in under 24 hours on a scrap of paper on the eve of the 1971 BaselWatch Fair. The night before the fair Genta received a phone call at 4.00am from Audemars Piguet’s then Managing Director, Georges Golay. The Italian market was expecting an “unprecedented steel watch,” he said, for which he needed a design by the following morning. It should be a sports watch for all occasions with the most beautiful finishes ever seen. Genta had just one night to come up with a design that would normally take several weeks and require hundreds of sketches. By the morning, however, a drawing conveyed his first idea of a driving suit helmet featuring all the details of the watch that was to become the Royal Oak; a design that would never be fundamentally altered and which would revolutionise the watchmaking industry. A luxury steel sports watch went against everything that had been created up until then and initially drew criticism and even contempt. The trend for that period focused on smaller watches, and the Royal Oak with its 39mm was regarded as decidedly different. The Swiss watch maker from Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux is showcasing 100 rare timepieces from the very first Royal Oak in 1972 to the latest models unveiled at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva in January. For this exhibition Piguet has drawn inspiration from three 21 st century artists: Sebastien Leon Agneessens, digital artist Quayola and photographer Dan Holdsworth.The exhibition will be opened to the public for four days only. The trend for that period focused on smaller watches, and the Royal Oak with its 39mm was regarded as decidedly different bite watch Images courtesy of Getty Images and Audemars Piguet