Audemars Piguet Unveils Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon for SIHH 2014

Audemars Piguet has unveiled a sneak peek at its creation for this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. The luxury watchmaker will present the Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon at the 2014 SIHH in Geneva, Switzerland.

This sleek timepiece features a 44mm titanium case with a white ceramic bezel, crown and pushpieces. As with the manufacture’s previous Concept watches, the dial is open-worked, sending the eye directly to the tourbillon carriage, second ‘GMT’ time-zone display and the white ceramic upper bridge. The inner flange circling the dial is made of lightweight aluminium, hardened by anodisation.

The Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon also features a selection indicator mechanism. According to the position of the winding stem, the hand positioned on the dial at 6 o’clock indicates the function selected. The H, N and R indications correspond to the three positions of the winding stem, meaning time-setting, neutral and winding respectively.

The hand-wound Calibre 2930 features a twin barrel which delivers a 10-day power reserve. Its timekeeping is regulated by a 3Hz (21,600vph) escapement, rotating inside a tourbillon carriage every 60 seconds. According to the manufacture it took three days to assemble the 85-component 0.45g tourbillon cage, and 8 hours to make the bezel. An integrated white rubber strap with titanium AP folding clasp completes the look.

Photo courtesy Audemars Piguet.