SIHH 2016: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked. With the new Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked, recently introduced at SIHH 2016, Audemars Piguet try to address these issues by fixing a second balance wheel and balance-spring assembly on the same axis. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked has a price of Euro 44,000 / US$ 44,100 in stainless steel (ref 15407ST.OO.1220ST.01) and Euro 77,000 / US$ 76,800 in pink gold (ref. 15407OR.OO.1220OR.01). Royal Oak 15407
The beating heart of a mechanical watch is the regulating organ which - composed of balance wheel and balance-spring - determines the precision of the watch through the regularity of its back and forth oscillations.
The swing of the balance wheel coils the balance-spring, which, when it reaches its maximum amplitude, starts to uncoil so transferring energy: each full swing releases a tooth of the escape wheel, moving components and gears one increment forward.
This process is particularly complex if you consider that a wristwatch has to defy gravity, withstand various types of shock and resist changes in temperature.
With the new Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked, recently introduced at SIHH 2016, Audemars Piguet try to address these issues by fixing a second balance wheel and balance-spring assembly on the same axis. Complex to engineer and manufacture, this patented "Dual balance" geometry improves precision and stability.
Not only an engineering feat, the solution is also aesthetically fascinating which is why Audemars Piguet has fully openworked the movement to reveal this two-fold beauty from both sides of the watch.
The selfwinding Manufacture Calibre 3132, beating at 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations per hour) and offering a power reserve of 45 hours, is completely openworked or skeletonised: the material that is not necessary to guarantee stress resistance is cut away so revealing the beauty of the mechanisms. The challenge is achieving the desired aesthetic result while safeguarding performance and precision.
Decoration and finishing of the components is exclusively performed by hand for both aesthetic and technical reasons. In fact, even if a milling machine can produce perfectly acceptable rounded angles, it cannot achieve the same quality of a master artisan in details like interior angles (or v-cut angles) and the way they reflect light which is so important to bring out the stunning architecture of the movement.
Available in a 41 mm stainless steel or pink gold case, with slate-grey dial and pink gold applied hour-markers, the Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked offers unobstructed viewing through the openworked front and the glareproofed sapphire crystal caseback.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked has a price of Euro 44,000 / US$ 44,100 in stainless steel (ref 15407ST.OO.1220ST.01) and Euro 77,000 / US$ 76,800 in pink gold (ref. 15407OR.OO.1220OR.01). audemarspiguet.com
The swing of the balance wheel coils the balance-spring, which, when it reaches its maximum amplitude, starts to uncoil so transferring energy: each full swing releases a tooth of the escape wheel, moving components and gears one increment forward.
This process is particularly complex if you consider that a wristwatch has to defy gravity, withstand various types of shock and resist changes in temperature.
With the new Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked, recently introduced at SIHH 2016, Audemars Piguet try to address these issues by fixing a second balance wheel and balance-spring assembly on the same axis. Complex to engineer and manufacture, this patented "Dual balance" geometry improves precision and stability.
Not only an engineering feat, the solution is also aesthetically fascinating which is why Audemars Piguet has fully openworked the movement to reveal this two-fold beauty from both sides of the watch.
The selfwinding Manufacture Calibre 3132, beating at 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations per hour) and offering a power reserve of 45 hours, is completely openworked or skeletonised: the material that is not necessary to guarantee stress resistance is cut away so revealing the beauty of the mechanisms. The challenge is achieving the desired aesthetic result while safeguarding performance and precision.
Decoration and finishing of the components is exclusively performed by hand for both aesthetic and technical reasons. In fact, even if a milling machine can produce perfectly acceptable rounded angles, it cannot achieve the same quality of a master artisan in details like interior angles (or v-cut angles) and the way they reflect light which is so important to bring out the stunning architecture of the movement.
Available in a 41 mm stainless steel or pink gold case, with slate-grey dial and pink gold applied hour-markers, the Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked offers unobstructed viewing through the openworked front and the glareproofed sapphire crystal caseback.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked has a price of Euro 44,000 / US$ 44,100 in stainless steel (ref 15407ST.OO.1220ST.01) and Euro 77,000 / US$ 76,800 in pink gold (ref. 15407OR.OO.1220OR.01). audemarspiguet.com
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