When the hammers strike the gongs, this membrane vibrates and acts like the sound board of a guitar, dramatically amplifying the sounds of the gongs. In addition, the actual titanium case back is slightly raised to cover this membrane and contains apertures across the edge to permit sounds to escape. This results in one of the minute repeater watches we’ve ever heard. And the watch seems even louder when it’s worn on the wrist!At that the close of the afternoon, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie Tourbillon Chronograph watch is still another powerful showcase of this new almost breathtaking technical know-how and one of a kind design sense. It is a thoroughly modern take on a few of horology’s oldest complications, and also we could observe that in the case of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie Tourbillon Chronograph watch, it has also been thoroughly improved.And if you believe all this will not come cheap, you’d be right. Though the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie Tourbillon Chronograph watch is not a limited edition, it has a princely price of597,400.
Created for a nation where the Audemars Piguet Offshore is deeply desirable, the Royal Oak Offshore “Pride of Indonesia” is a 100-piece limited edition in titanium and pink gold with the national emblem Garuda Pancasila on the case back.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore “Pride of Indonesia” is an old school 42mm Offshore in titanium, with the crown and pushers covered in synthetic rubber (not the ceramic of the current Offshore). The case back is in pink gold case and decorated with a relief of Garuda Pancasila, an eagle that’s the national symbol of Indonesia. The dial is dark grey with a brushed finish, an unusual look for the Offshore which typically features dials decorated with the checkerboard “mega tapisserie” guilloche. And the numerals, hands, sub-dials and flange are gilded in pink gold.
Underneath the pink gold case back is the calibre 3126/3840, AP’s in-house automatic movement with a Dubois-Depraz chronograph module on top.
AP has been more judicious with limited editions since the current chief executive Francois Bennahmias took over, so such Offshores are appearing at a lower frequency than before. The Pride of Indonesia is the sixth in the “Pride” series, after Russia (2005), China (2008), Mexico and Argentina (both in 2010), and most recently Thailand (2013), all middle income countries with a high Gini coefficient. The very first Pride of Indonesia, numbered 001/100, will be auctioned for charity during the launch event today, with all the proceeds going to the National Museum of Indonesia. The Pride of Indonesia (ref. 26179IR.OO.A005CR.01) is fitted to a dark grey alligator strap with a titanium tang buckle with a pink gold pin. It’s limited to 100 pieces, with a retail price of S$53,400, and available at Audemars Piguet boutiques in Jakarta and Singapore.