The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Flyback Chrongraph 26240OR
AP Royal Oak Chronograph 26240OR
Oufff, this one is tasty.
Pink gold mixed with blue grand tapisserie is pretty much the AP dream combination, and this is no exception.
Usually I’d dive straight into the aesthetics of this beauty, but the movement is really something special.
This is the new in-house calibre 4401 which replaces the older Frederic Piguet 1185 movement previously used in the chronograph range.
This new calibre is a peach.
Flyback chronograph which can be stopped and reset using just the lower button, the movement sports a column wheel and visible vertical clutch which means that if you’re not a fan of using small seconds for reference, you can keep the chronograph running with no loss of power or timekeeping.
Shock protection in the shape of a Gyromax balance means that this movement can take most things that you care to throw at it with a 70 hour power reserve to boot.
Aesthetically, one of the most important things to note about the new movement is that ITS SIZE FITS THE CASE!
This addresses a long-running gripe from AP fans that the previous calbres used in the chronograph and Offshore range were small movements in large cases.
You wouldn’t be able to see this in previous Royal Oak Chronographs but if you take a look at some of the Offshores with sapphire backs you can see a thick metal rim around the rear and a smaller viewing window.
This effectively hid the size deficit between movement and case.
What couldnt be hidden quite so well though, was the date wheel being quite significantly inset from the outer minute track. Not really a big deal, but a case of what has been seen cannot be unseen.
Not so on these new models and a vast improvement that couldn’t come soon enough.
On to the rest of the watch.
Full pink gold with beautifully contrasting brushed and polished angles which flow through the entire design. This is still a watch that we all know and love although it has seen a couple of design tweaks to the head.
The chrono pushers are no longer screw-down but feature hexagonal sheaths offering protection and integrate well with the crown guards which have also seen some tweaking to become slightly sharper. Both small changes which don’t particularly affect the visuals but definitely make the chronograph easier to use “on the fly”
Despite being billed as a 41mm watch, this piece wears larger than its size suggests.
On the wrist, its closer to a 43mm but wears really well.
This is largely down to the lug length rather than width of the piece
At 51.5mm lug to lug its already larger than the standard sports watches, but the integrated bracelet increases this to 54mm which is the key to its absolute presence when on the wrist.
It’s not a subtle watch, but with its glinting hand polished facets and sharp angles it was never designed to be soft or subtle.
The dial is nothing short of magnificent and AP have called it “Bleu Nuit Nuage 50” which loosely translates to midnight blue cloud.
In fairness to them, thats a pretty apt description as the blue is a lovely rich dark blue tone which is muted and not particularly bright.
I like it a LOT, and particularly when its combined with pink gold indices as the colour pairing contrasts well together.
The pink gold lifts the blue, the blue tones down the pink - scientists would call this “symbiosis” but im just going to go with “VERY NICE”