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A compact 38.5mm Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon developed in collaboration with the Tokyo-based duo Yoon Ahn and Verbal (Ryu Young-gi), whose creative practice straddles the worlds of fashion, music and product design.
Creative director Yoon, a former jewellery designer for Dior Men, and music producer Verbal are co-founders of the luxury streetwear and jewellery brand Ambush, with longstanding roots in Japanese and global pop culture. Verbal is well-known in Japan as a member of the hip-hop collective M-Flo and supergroup Teriyaki Boyz. Together, they illustrate the Concept collection’s ongoing dialogue between traditional watchmaking and contemporary culture.
Recap
The first Royal Oak Concept watch was a limited-edition super hi-tech creation featuring an aggressive faceted Alacrite alloy case design released in 2002 to mark the Royal Oak’s 30th anniversary.
Inspired by concept cars, it was originally intended as a one-off but in 2008 became the spark for a playground of experimentation, innovation and collaboration with different creative fields. Among the watches that followed in the collection were the pioneering Royal Oak Carbon Concept tourbillon and chronograph, Royal Oak Concept RD#1 Acoustic Research Minute Repeater (2015), Royal Oak Concept Laptimer Michael Schumacher single-pusher chronograph (2015), and the Royal Oak Concept Black Panther Flying Tourbillon (2021) in partnership with Marvel.
Key features
While retaining the Royal Oak DNA, the Concept line radically reinvents Gerald Genta’s 1972 design into futuristic, angular and multi-layered architectural pieces, with only the familiar octagonal bezel and visible screws remaining as clues to its lineage.
As forward-thinking as the Concept might be, its aggressive design is reminiscent of the Brutalist-inspired watches of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the King Seiko, Zenith Defy and AP’s own asymmetrical reference 5159BA with its rectangular, facetted case, revived in 2024 as the [Re]Master 02.
The bold geometry of the lightweight titanium case is exaggerated by alternating sandblasted, satin-brushed and polished surfaces. The black ceramic screw-down crown is topped with a titanium chip. The aluminium top cage of the flying tourbillon is anodised red, which Verbal describes as evoking the Earth’s core: “The origin point, the source of energy and, ultimately, the beginning of how we measure time itself.”
A semi-open-worked dial features sparkling black aventurine outlined by mirror-polished silver bevels and offers a glimpse of the new hand-wound Calibre 2982. Its blackened 18-carat white gold hands are filled with luminescent material. A sapphire and titanium caseback presents a clear view of the ultra-contemporary movement. The watch is fitted with a black rubber interchangeable strap featuring a “micro-mosaic” pattern and quilted inner imprint.
POA, audemarspiguet.com
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