PERFECTLY TIMED

Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-Thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 answers a simple question with complex engineering: what should a chronograph feel like in 2025?

- CANDICE CHAN

Audemars Piguet is still celebrating its milestone year with fanfare and confidence. Across its catalogue, the brand has refreshed core Royal Oak references, experimented with gem-setting that treats light as a material rather than a mere enhancement, and advanced its complication pieces with thoughtful and genuine innovation to benefit the wearer.

The company's recent release, the Royal Oak "Jumbo" Extra-Thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD #5, is another masterpiece. Limited to 150 pieces, it is the first Royal Oak watch to combine a flyback chronograph with a flying tourbillon inside the original 39-mm "Jumbo" case, and measures just 8.1-mm thick.

Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG), a metallic alloy, is combined with titanium in the case. With over 50 percent palladium, Audemars Piguet's proprietary BMG offers exceptional durability.

As a result, the watch wears comfortably and has a distinctive reflective sheen. To provide more room for the hands and peripheral rotor, the front and back crystals are hollowed on the inside instead of flat on the outside.

Ergonomics guide the design brief. In modern waterresistant chronographs, pushers require a forceful press to start, stop, and reset the watch. Giulio Papi, Director of Watchmaking Design at Audemars Piguet, redesigned that interface to make it more tactile.