A Classic Grows Up

Suited well for convenience and easy ownership, the Jules Audemars Perpetual Calendar is not only thin, but has an automatic movement. Visible through the sapphire window caseback of the watch, one can admire the movement and highly engraved automatic rotor. The majority of theses watches will be engraved with “AP” on the rotor, but a select few will be customized for customers interested in having Audemars Piguet engrave the customer’s initials on the rotor. This process is more than just an art project for watch makers, but involves precise adjustments to the movement to allow for slight variations in the weight of the rotor when letters other than “AP” are placed in the rotor. The engraved section of the rotor is in white gold, while it has a separate element (for weight) that is in 21k yellow gold.

Finishing and decoration on most Jules Audemars cases has always intrigued me. Sitting in a healthy 41mm wide 18k ROSE gold case, the bulging sides of the watch are presented with a brushed finishing, while the bezel, lugs, and caseback are mirror polished. Such “contrast polishing” is common, but the use of brushed rounded middle section to the case is unique and helps identify the watch as part of the Jules Audemars collection timepieces. The rose gold case is complimented with two dial choices, being brown and silver. While silver dials options are not uncommon, brown dials are (at least historically). Recent years have seen brown become a popular choice among dials, especially as the color compliments a gold case well. The trendy dial hue will likely find a home on more complex watches but is still novel for elegantly styled perpetual calendar watches such as this.