It has been a phenomenal year for the watch world. To round off 2022, we are celebrating the hits, the wonders, the visionaries and all the people in watchmaking who have made it so memorable in our annual Revolution Awards and Power Lists.
Today we honour a watch that is the latest expression of one of the most important movements in watchmaking – sports chic. And that watch is none other than the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Blue Ceramic.
The amazing Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is the watch that had to be made because it unites two of the core creations of the maison — the iconic Gérald Genta-designed integrated bracelet watch that gave birth to a whole new category of timepieces and is, to this day, the single most important watch ever designed, and the ultra thin automatic perpetual calendar movement that saved Audemars Piguet during the Quartz Crisis. The extraordinary thing about the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is that its every incarnation, since it was first designed in 1984 by Jacqueline Dimier, reveals it to be the perfect canvas for creative expression while simultaneously empowering its mighty legacy.
The latest incarnation in blue ceramic does just that as well. It shimmers on the wrist in a way that is reminiscent of a new-world sculptural formed art piece, transforming the timepiece into one of the biggest trophies in the world. And that is the power of Audemars Piguet today, which can be credited to its outgoing CEO, the brilliant François-Henry Bennahmias. He has transformed Audemars Piguet from a watch brand to a key pillar in global luxury culture with watches just like this.
