Audemars Piguet: Royal Oak Frosted Gold Carolina Bucci
26 October 2018The creative partnership of Audemars Piguet and Italian jewellery designer Carolina Bucci delivers another surprise with the 37mm limited edition Royal Oak in yellow gold. The shiny, silver-toned mirror, framed with the shimmering sparkle of a Frosted Gold case andbracelet, replaces the trademark “Tapisserie” Royal Oak dial.
Carolina Bucci’s original 2016 Frosted Gold design celebrated 40 years of Royal Oak for women. With this limited edition of 300 pieces, her design evolves in new directions. For the first time, the “diamond dust” finish appears in yellow gold—the designer’s favourite version of this precious metal. There’s novelty in the packaging as well, with a mirrored box bearing a Frosted Gold AP insignia. This mirrored box is also designed by Carolina Bucci, who believes in pulling out luxury watch packaging from the back of the closet to put it on display.
“For me, Royal Oak is the watch. I wear it all the time; it’s part of my style, my signature.”
Above all, being almost without precedent in the annals of the Manufacture, this mirrored dial is stunning.
“With the first Frosted Gold design, I took the perfection of the Royal Oak case and bracelet and ‘roughed them up’ a little, juxtaposing the perfectly imperfect Florentine finish with Swiss watchmaking precision. Now I’m doing the opposite, taking the textured surface of the ‘Tapisserie’ dial and flattening it out into a perfectly smooth mirror. The motive for both is to create something interesting and unpredictable. It’s a fresh take on an iconmade in the image of a contemporary woman. I know women with a great eye for keynote accessories who are going to love this. The mirror is always interacting with its environment, ever-changing accordingto what clothes you’re wearing, the décor of the room, the lighting, the time of day, the weather.”
“I designed the Royal Oak Frosted Gold in response to a challenge from Audemars Piguet.”
Chairwoman of Audemars Piguet’s Board of Directors, Jasmine Audemars is an established fan of FrostedGold and has been wearing the first edition 37mm selfwinding model since 2016. For her, “the creativitybehind the Frosted Gold watch is simply amazing. It is both art and a very high level of technology. WithCarolina Bucci, we created a kind of masterpiece.” She sees the new limited edition with its mirrored dial as “the final touch:” “It’s unique and fun. Who needs a selfie when you can look at yourself in your watch?” (Price €.55.300)