Audemars Piguet Redefines The Gemset Rainbow Watch With 20 Blinged-Out Royal Oaks

How do you top the rainbow-bezel look trending in high end watches? Audemars Piguet blows it out of the water it with two sets of 10 Royal Oak models that collectively form a double rainbow of colors. They are the latest of this year’s launches to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Royal Oak. The two sets of 10 models in two different sizes are completely paved with colored gemstones. When you lay each set out together, you get a rainbow effect – which ups the game on the usual rainbow look in watches, in which the full spectrum is set on a single watch.

The 41mm version is set with 861 baguette gems, and the 37mm, with 790 stones. Each is meticulously selected, custom-cut and color matched, no easy task at a time when competition is high among top brands for the best gemstones. Audemars Piguet says sourcing them took a year. Each gem goes through an intense quality control and color matching process – all are eye clean (no visible inclusions to the naked eye). The setting was done by Salanitro, one of the top gemsetters in Switzerland and a long-time AP collaborator.

The 10 gems include ruby, emerald, blue sapphire, tanzanite, yellow chrysoberyl, pink tourmaline, amethyst, blue topaz, orange spessartite and tsavorite. Each was painstakingly faceted to be perfectly symmetrical, and set to be flawlessly aligned. They were cut in 179 different sizes for the 41 mm version and 153 different sizes for the 37 mm. All are invisibly set. Only ten artisans at Salanitro, out of 80, were trained to perform this meticulous gemsetting, which amounted to a month and a half of work per artisan to create one of the sets.

Despite the overwhelming bling, the watches are clearly recognizable as Royal Oaks, with the metal and screws of the signature eight-sided bezel remaining visible. Gems were meticulously cut to fit into the small middle links of the iconic bracelet, maintaining its signature design. On the dial, hour markers were left out so as no to detract from the paved gemstones surface, but the Audemars Piguet signature and “Swiss Made” designation are printed in white or in black on the sapphire crystal.

The 41mm version contains caliber 4309, and the 37mm version, caliber 5909. Both are time-only movements. Like other 50th anniversary editions, these will also come with a 22-carat pink gold oscillating rotor that spells out “50 years.” Prices on request. Sold as two separate sets.