Audemars Piguet Launch 50th Anniversary Royal Oak Rainbow 37mm and 41mm Collection

In my experience there is no subject in watchmaking that divides opinion quite so much as haute joillerie. Some collectors love their watches to be covered in the most precious minerals and stones while others wouldn’t be caught dead with so much as a garnet. So, it’s little surprise that the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Rainbow collection is already causing a lot of debate.

The concept behind the new collection is relatively straightforward. Instead of producing one watch with a rainbow bezel, AP have created two sets of 10 watches (20 watches total) that are entirely covered in gems of a single colour, meaning that each set of 10 creates a full rainbow together.

What separates the two sets is that one is 37mm and the other is 41mm. Because of the difference in size, the two sets also house different movements, with the Calibre 5909 in the 37mm and the Calibre 4309 in the 41mm. Beyond that, all 20 watches are more or less the same, featuring white gold cases and time only displays.

Each watch in the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Rainbow collection has between 790 and 861 identical baguette cut stones with invisible settings. Each of the 10 colours requires a different stone: blue – sapphire, green – emerald, red – ruby, violet – tanzanite, yellow – chrysoberyl, pink – tourmaline, purple – amethyst, orange – spessartite, light blue – blue topaz, light green – tsavorites. Some of these are common to watchmaking while other are rarely seen, which is why it took AP more than a year to source all the required gems.

On one hand, you have to give it to Audemars Piguet, the sheer boldness of these watches is captivating. It’s impossible not to be stunned by their glorious opulence and luxurious brashness. A true celebration of the model’s 50^th anniversary. On the other hand, it’s also impossible not to see the PR-stunt angle. It feels like they were made because they could not because they should. As I mentioned at the start, opinions are divided.

Additionally, being price on request, the only people who can afford to actually wear them are celebrities like Drake. I choose Drake as my example because he’s already shown his appreciation for watches like this with his emerald Nautilus. And he can add an emerald Royal Oak to his collection and a sapphire Royal Oak and a ruby Royal Oak and a… well, you get the idea. Although, if he want’s something just as colourful without the gems, the electric blue Ceramic Perpetual Calendar fits the bill.