Openworking — also known as skeletonisation — involves cutting away material to reveal the mechanical artistry contained within. It is among the most exacting performances in watchmaking: cutting too much can jeopardize tolerances or affect shock resistance. Achieving the right balance between the beauty of the revealed components and the safeguarding of their performance’s precision is a rare art.
Audemars Piguet has been a master of this intricate process since the 1930s. Today, it performs it in precisely the same manner: filing, decoration and finishing exclusively done by hand. The reasons for this are both aesthetic and technical. For example, a milling machine produces perfectly acceptable rounded angles, but it cannot produce the perfect interior angles (or v-cut angles) that so superlatively reflect light, expressing the artistry of Haute Horlogerie.
Introduced in 2012, the original Royal Oak Tourbillon Extra-Thin marked the Royal Oak's 40th anniversary and was originally available only in platinum, followed by the launch of a yellow gold version in 2016.
Demand from connoisseurs around the world has led to the creation of two new limited edition versions in 2017 - one in brushed 18-carat pink gold with matching bracelet, the other in stainless steel. Just like their platinum and yellow gold predecessors, each model features the mesmerizing Audemars Piguet in-house caliber 2924 hand-wound skeleton movement, comprising 216 components - but in two very different finishes. The pink gold model (available in 50 examples) features a pink gold mainplate and bridges, while the movement of the steel version (available in 100 examples) is rhodium plated in cool, understated tones.
