The Royal Oak ‘Jumbo’ is born, reinventing the chronograph

Text by Ana Franco.

2 photos

With Audemars Piguet‘s latest breakthrough, fine watchmaking has once again been placed at the service of the wearer, proving that a complicated watch can also be comfortable and easy to use. All of the brand’s considerable innovation has recently been focused on launching the Royal Oak Extra-Thin Flying Tourbillon Automatic Chronograph RD#5, which reinvents the chronograph function, one of the most popular and practical today.

This watch, the latest in the RD series, which since 2015 has improved on other complications already existing in the Swiss firm’s catalogue, is shaped like a Royal Oak “Jumbo”, measuring 39 mm in diameter and 8.1 mm thick (making it extremely flat), and features the coveted Petite Tapisserie dial in Bleu Nuit blue, Nuage 50. Its case is made of titanium and BMG (amorphous metallic glass, composed of more than 50% palladium), a material that gives it a high shine.

3 photos

The innovation lies inside, in the new Calibre 8100, with a 72-hour power reserve, the result of five years of work. For the first time, a Royal Oak “Jumbo” combines a flyback chronograph (which allows the chronograph to be restarted without first stopping and resetting it) with a large amplitude flying tourbillon. And by redesigning the entire chronograph mechanism, they have managed to reduce the force required to press the chronograph pushers, which are now considerably smaller. It is now like pressing the side button on a smartwatch: smooth and sensitive to the touch.

The movement can be seen through the sapphire crystal on the back, thanks to a peripheral platinum rotor. The price of this model, limited to 150 units because 150 is the number of years Audemars Piguet will have been in business in 2025, is around €336,000. With this model, the firm reveals that it is in excellent shape.