Having devised the granular Frosted Gold finish that’s now found on several Royal Oak models, Italian jewellery designer Carolina Bucci has teamed up once again with Audemars Piguet, but on a collaboration that goes in an entirely different direction.

This time it’s all about contemporary materials and aesthetics with the Royal Oak Selfwinding Carolina Bucci Limited Edition 34 mm in black ceramic with an iridescent, laser-engraved sapphire dial and a generous dose of pink gold accents.

Initial thoughts

Though the Royal Oak has an unmistakable identity, Ms Bucci has proven that the iconic octagonal design can be a canvas for something different. Her latest creation proves that remains true.

Although this is merely a new dial, the execution is novel enough to be interesting. The dial isn’t traditional in either technique or materials – the dial is ultra-modern in fact – yet still preserves the classic Royal Oak aesthetic with a chequerboard pattern that evokes its signature tapisserie guilloche.

Pairing the iridescent dial with the muted black ceramic case makes the watch even more striking, resulting in an eye-catching aesthetic despite the moderate case of just 34 mm.

Still, its modernity in both style and techniques means it could be criticised as a gimmick. But that is too harsh. It’s less timeless than a traditional Royal Oak, but still a timeless design. And it is definitely chic.

The hands and applied markers are pink gold, as are the nuts on the bezel

Rainbow tapisserie

The watch was born of Ms Bucci’s appreciation of rainbows in obscure places.

“I wanted to place a rainbow in the most unexpected of places, a little like when you see oil floating on a puddle in a city street,” says Ms Bucci, “So here you have every colour of the spectrum on a canvas that is completely black, which is itself the absence of colour.”

Carolina Bucci

Her idea was realised with a two-part dial comprising a clear sapphire disc over a black-coated, mirror-polished brass blank below.

The rainbow finish is a result of the treatment applied to the sapphire disc, which is engraved with tiny squares and then cover with a thin film of gold via a metallisation technique. The sapphire disc then refracts incident light, splitting the beam into its constituent colours, much like how a prism creates a rainbow effect.

Interestingly, the dial turns entirely black at certain angles since the brass disc underneath is all black, creating a dramatic contrast in the appearance of the watch, an effect that’s impossible to achieve with a traditional tapisserie dial .

Inside the watch is the cal. 5800, a compact movement that’s supplied by Vaucher, the movement maker that’s a sister company of Parmigiani. In typical Vaucher style, the movement is smartly constructed and appealing finished, albeit in an industrial manner, though it is livened up by a 22k gold rotor.

The designer’s name is engraved on the titanium case back

Key facts and price

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Carolina Bucci Limited Edition 34 mm
Ref. 77350CE.OO.1266CE.02

Diameter: 34 mm
Height: 8.8 mm
Material: Black ceramic with 18k pink gold screws and titanium caseback
Crystal: Sapphire
Water-resistance: 50 m

Movement: Cal. 5800
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, and date
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 28,800 beats per hour (4 Hz)
Power reserve: 50 hours

Strap: Black ceramic bracelet

Limited edition: 300 pieces
Availability: At boutiques and AP Houses
Price: US$54,200; or 78,300 Singapore dollars

For more, visit audemarspiguet.com.

Having already designed its own El Primero limited edition, Phillips has collaborated with Zenith and Voutilainen to create the Calibre 135 Observatoire, a limited edition of 10 watches each powered by a cal. 135-O.

The movement was the specially-regulated variant of Zenith’s flagship chronometer wristwatch movement of the mid-20th century, conceived solely to participate in observatory chronometer contests. As such, the movements were never cased and sold, until now. Contained in a platinum case, the movements were light decorated by Voutilainen, which also supplied the guilloche dial via its dial making subsidiary Comblemine.

Initial thoughts

The Calibre 135 Observatoire is a good looking watch. It’s evidently modelled on the vintage model and doesn’t change too much of the original design, but instead injects a few elegant details that give it more refinement, like the guilloche chapter ring. These discreet flourishes are enough to set it apart as a higher end watch than the vintage original, which are more of a functional precision chronometer.

More broadly, it’s a three-way collaboration that reflects the strengths of the collaborators to different degrees.

For Phillips, the Observatoire is a sensible collaboration since it chimes with its strength in selling both vintage and modern watches at the top end of the price spectrum. And it also a perfect base for the auctioneer to utilise the discerning eye of the gentlemen behind the project, namely Aurel Bacs and Alexandre Ghotbi. The vintage aesthetic with details like the movement number on the dial illustrate their well-honed taste.

The Observatoire also makes sense for Zenith, since it elevates the brand into a realm it is not traditionally part of, thanks to the pricing power offered by the brand names of Voutilainen and Phillips.

For Kari Voutilainen it is less clear what his brand gains from this, especially since he is involved a variety of projects, the biggest of which is reviving Urban Jurgensen.

In fact, Mr Voutilainen started his brand with a comparable watch – his own Observatoire that was powered by a restored Peseux 260 finished to a substantially higher level – which implies he could have done much more with the cal. 135. With the movement finishing finely executed but minimal, the Voutilainen content in the Zenith Observatoire feels inadequate, especially considering the price.

As for the price – almost US$140,000 – it’s a stretch for a Zenith but made palatable by the Voutilainen brand. Given the tiny number made, however, the price is logical.

Chronometric star

Produced from 1949 to 1962, the cal. 135 was a high-precision workhorse for Zenith, with over 11,000 movements made over the dozen years of its run. Majority of them were destined to be installed in wristwatches that were then sold commercially; these were the standard cal. 135.

But the second version of the cal. 135-O was conceived purely as a competition timekeeper to be entered into the chronometer trials held by the observatories at Neuchâtel and Geneva in Switzerland, Kew Teddington outside London, and Besançon in France. According to Zenith, the cal. 135-O won the most chronometry prizes of any movement in history, with the tally exceeding 230.

The 10 watches of the edition all contain movements from 1950 to 1954, a period when the cal. 135-O won prizes every year. The prize-winning movements were all regulated by either Charles Fleck or René Gygax, star regleurs of the period. Each of the ten movements selected for the limited edition won a first prize during the period (although one of them had to enter a second time to accomplish that).

The Voutilainen workshop was responsible for the restoration and decoration of the ten cal. 135-Os. Amongst the work done by Mr Voutilainen is anglage on the bridges, chamfering and polishing of the screw heads, and perlage on the base plate.

But much of the original movement aesthetic has been retained, in order to “carefully [preserve] the original regulation and fine-tuning of the movements by Fleck and Gygax” according to Zenith.

Each of the restored cal. 135-O movements have been given a 38 mm case in platinum, a metal not used for the vintage cal. 135 wristwatches, which were either in gold or steel.

The dial base is sterling silver and decorated with a barleycorn guilloche on the chapter ring for the hours. The hour markers are rhodium-plated German silver, while the hands are solid gold.

Key facts and price

Zenith Calibre 135 Observatoire
Ref. 40.1350.135/21.C1000

Diameter: 38 mm
Height: 10.35 mm
Material: Platinum
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 30 m

Movement: Cal. 135-O
Functions: Hours, minutes, and seconds
Frequency: 18,000 beats per hour (2.5 Hz)
Winding: Manual
Power reserve: 40 hours

Strap: Calfskin with white gold pin buckle

Limited edition: 10 pieces
Availability: From Phillips
Price: CHF132,900

For more, visit Zenith-watches.com and Phillips.com.