A Taste of the Starry Night in the Blue Ceramic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

Swiss Haute Horlogerie firm Audemars Piguet revealed a new version of its Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar made for the first time entirely from blue ceramic. Its Grande Tapisserie dial and subdials are hued in electric blue. First time ever, the case and bracelet of the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar are made entirely from blue ceramic. This lightweight material is resistant to wear and scratches and highlights the watch's 9.50 mm thickness.

The new Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in 41 mm boasts for the first time a totally blue ceramic case and band. The blue Grande Tapisserie dial and subdials add to the watch's starry night aesthetic.

To meet the Manufacture's high-quality criteria, ceramic must be made with precision and hand-decorated with care. Powdered Zirconium Oxide (ZrO2), which is modified to create a blue pigmentation when baked, is mixed with a special binder before being transformed into ceramic through a complex industrial process requiring many phases of high-precision machining.

After being sintered at temperatures over 1,400 degrees Celsius, the components acquire their final colour. As the final colour of ceramics is dictated by the non-variable sintering temperature, obtaining a consistent hue presents additional challenges.

Utilizing Physical Vapor Deposition, the dial, subdials, and inner bezel of the Grande Tapisserie watch have been matched to the blue ceramic case and bracelet (PVD). For best evening visibility, the connected 18-karat white gold hour markers and facetted hands are covered with illuminating material.

With its three calendar subdials and moon phase aperture uniformly distributed over the dial, the watch exhibits a pleasing aesthetic balance and excellent legibility of the hours, minutes, day, date, week, month, astronomical moon, and leap year indicators.

Blue dial with "Grand Tapisserie" pattern, blue subdials, white gold hour markers with luminescent Royal Oak hands, blue inner bezel.

This new model is powered by an automated Calibre 5134 mechanism. This method accounts for the number of days in the month and displays the current date accurately, even during leap years. Assuming the watch is wound regularly, the date will stay in sync with the Gregorian calendar until the year 2100 without human intervention.